Hindsight::Foresight
by Paradox Jast
Summary: What do you do when an experimental seal goes horribly wrong? Or maybe it's incredibly right? How do you handle a crushed dream or ignored wishes? If you thought the decision to seal Kyuubi was a hard one to make... mild MinaKushi, NaruSaku
1. Prologue

Hindsight::Foresight  
Prologue

Kamio Takako was tired. She had been travelling for three days already, coming from Wave Country on her way to Konoha. Of those three days, she had only been able to get a few hours of sleep. She couldn't blame anyone for that, because other than the quiet company her horse offered, she was traveling alone.

Stupid colds.

It was in the middle of the wet season in Wave, and she had been caught unawares by a freak downpour that left her drenched a day before she was supposed to leave on her trip. She was heading for Konoha to examine their ability as a potential supplier of the building materials to make a bridge connecting their small island to the mainland. Other than the fact she had an unforgiving cold, the trip had so far been uneventful. Konoha did a fine job of keeping the roads of Fire Country rather safe for travel. As a result of that, other than trying to stay awake, Takako was having a hard time keeping herself entertained. She already finished the book she brought, considering she thought she'd be getting more sleep. So she had taken to reading it to pass the time.

She had considered reading it again, but it was already the third time she'd read this particular book in the _Icha Icha _series.

Out of nowhere, a loud crash and a yelp of pain erupted from the forest to her left. It startled her poor horse, who began to whinny and stomp his hooves on the ground. Takako admitted to herself that she was startled too, but took the next several seconds calming her horse down. He was an older steed, and she didn't know if his poor heart could take it.

Silently grateful for the distraction, she looked around several times once she had calmed the horse down. Not seeing or hearing anything further, she shrugged it off and prodded her horse onward. If it was a bandit, she would have been attacked already. Konoha was well known for it's ability to swiftly deal with the riffraff, so she wasn't surprised that she hadn't seen a bandit, or even another human yet on this trip.

* * *

Namikaze Minato silently cursed himself as he felt his back, legs, and hands throb in a dull ache.

"Okay, maybe I pushed a little too much chakra into that seal." Shaking his head and mumbling to himself, he slowly got up to his feet, feeling his legs start to protest. Wincing when he felt his knees make a distinct popping noise, he took a deep breath and looked at his surroundings.

Trees. Rocks. Small bushes scattered about. Boken tree limbs were scattered around his feet where he had fallen through the canopy. Looking straight up, he could see the clear blue sky.

"Well, at least I'm not in Rock. That's a relief. They don't have this many trees."

Looking around again, he spotted a chair. His chair, actually. The one that belonged in the workshop of his apartment. He vaguely recalled grabbing it to steady himself as he pumped chakra into one of his new seals that he was testing. The air around him had begun to vibrate, but he was determined to see this experiment through.

He had placed what he assumed would work as a target seal in a forest that looked a lot like the one he was standing in, however... these trees looked older, and the canopy seemed more dense. Though it may just have been his imagination and he wasn't remembering correctly. It had been very early in the day, after all.

Dusting himself off, he straighened his jounin vest and looked up once again. Spotting a branch near the top of the canopy, he performed a quick shunshin and quietly landed on it.

Suddenly, he realized his legs were emitting a dull throbbing pain, and he was winded. The seal must have eaten up a lot more chakra than he thought. Resting on the branch for a moment to catch his breath and to let the throbbing subside some, he then stood up and took a look around.

Trees as far as the eye could see. There were some mountains which appeared faint on the horizon to the west, but other than that there were no overly distinguishable characteristics about his nearby landscape.

His attention quickly shifted a little to the south as he thought he heard something. Listening carefully, Minato let a grin split his face when he realized he did hear something. More than one thing actually. A very faint voice, and the sound of hooves. Which probably meant traders.

"Good, hopefully they're nice and willing to tell me where I am." A handsign, a spoken jutsu, and a puff of smoke around his body happened within the blink of an eye before he took off.

* * *

Takako sighed bitterly. She was hoping for something interesting to happen, maybe even get visited by some shinobi, or pass someone going the other way. Apparently that crashing noise in the forest was just a tree falling over, and the yelp was some kind of animal. She would have gone to investigate, but she was on a schedule after all. Plus, if it was someone in need of help, she was too tired to be of assistance anyway. Not only that, but she didn't have any kind of first aid equipment with her.

Groaning and rubbing her temples with her fingers, she told herself that she needed to stop thinking about it. Those thoughts were only making her feel guilty that she didn't at least go look. After all, it-

"Hey there!"

Takako yelped in surprise, and involuntarily yanked on her horse's bridle, causing it to stop suddenly and snort.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Takako looked to her left where the voice was coming from. Her eyes rested on a man dressed up in well-known Konoha jounin garb; his forehead protector gleaming in the sunlight, emblazoned with the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He was looking at her with a kind smile and gentle brown eyes. He had short, well groomed dirty blond hair that was swaying slightly in the light breeze.

She sighed. "It's fine. Kami knows I need some form of excitement on this boring trip. You must be some sort of sign from above."

The man laughed lightly, his grin getting larger. He moved his hand up and lightly scratched the back of his neck, almost appearing embarrased for some reason.

"Ahhh, this might sound strange coming from a shinobi, but..." The man looked around briefly before turning back to Takako, "... do you know which way it is to Konoha? I think I know, but I was testing a new jutsu and totally messed up my sense of direction."

Takako started to laugh outright, causing the shinobi to grumble and look even more embarrased. "If you don't want to, that's fine... in about eight more hours it won't matter anyway..."

She stopped laughing and looked at him strangely. "Why won't it matter?"

He looked up at her, surprise on his features. Perhaps he thought he was talking to himself and she wasn't listening. "Oh... ahh... it's nothing important. It has something to do with the way I performed my jutsu."

Takako nodded, not really caring or understanding. She was a contractor, not a shinobi. "Fine fine. Anyway, Konoha's where I'm headed to get some prices for supplies. It's only about another hour, maybe two away from here. If you're not in a rush, I could sure use some company. Traveling for three days with just a horse to talk to isn't exactly what I'd call exciting."

The man gave a smile and a small nod. He stepped up nearby to travel alongside her as she nudged her horse to start moving again.

"Well, since we'll be traveling together for the next hour, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Kazama Arashi, nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Kazama-san. I'm Kamio Takako, from Wave Country. So tell me, did you happen to hear that crash in the forest..."

* * *

Minato sighed to himself as he walked through the gates to Konoha. Takako had moved ahead of him to check in with the gate guards, while he stood back so she could finish. She had talked incessantly for the entire duration of their trip, asking him the occasional question, to which he gave brief answers, otherwise she'd just cut him off and start talking again. She must have stored up a lot to say over those previous three days of her travel, unless she was always that much of a chatterbox.

Takako talked to him in-depth about this bridge that Wave was going to be constructing soon. He found it especially intriguing because it was the first he had heard about such an initiative. Minato wasn't aware that Wave even had that many people, enough to warrant spending that much money. But he played the part of a good listener and let her talk.

He was pulled from his musings as he heard her voice again. She was saying goodbye, and waving him towards the checking station. Minato nodded his thanks to her, and gave a small wave. Turning to the booth, he stepped up but came to a complete stop before he got there.

He didn't recognize either of these two. Plus, they looked incredibly relaxed... weren't they in a state of war right now?! Whoever these two jokers were...

"Hey Kotetsu, you must have something on your face?"

The one called Kotetsu turned and looked at his companion. "I do have something on my face. What do you think this is?" He pointed at the white tape that streched from one cheek to the other, over his nose.

"Well, maybe that's what he's looking at."

Kotetsu turned his attention to Minato for the first time. "Can I help you with something, bud? You need to check in?" He grabbed the clipboard with the return log attached to it and looked at Minato expectantly.

Minato was getting angry with how casual these two fill-ins were acting, but decided to bite his tongue and take it up with the Hokage later. "Kazama Arashi."

"All right. Let's see here. Kazama... Kazama... Kazama..." Kotetsu flipped a few pages up until he came across the page he was looking for. "...Kazama... ah, here. You said Kazama Arashi, correct?"

"Yes."

Kotetsu raised an eyebrow. "You're dead."

Minato stared at him in confusion. Dead? The gears in his mind went into overdrive, trying to think of how he could possibly be listed as dead. He hadn't even left on a mission since he returned from his last one with his team. "What? I don't see how..."

"Izumo, take a look. Make sure I'm not seeing things."

The other shinobi, apparently named Izumo, got up from his chair and accepted the clipboard from his companion. Looking it over, he nodded in affirmation. "Yup, says dead."

Minato was starting to sweat now. This didn't make any sense.

"What kind of mission were you out on? Maybe we have a record of that and can check that way." They were both eyeing him warily now.

Minato just nodded, deciding to tell them he'd just gotten back from the mission he completed three days ago. "I was on an S rank reconnaisance in Grass Country near the Rock border. It was my mission to..."

Kotetsu held up his hand, stalling Minato's recitation. "I don't know how long you've been gone for, but it's standard procedure now for all all S rank missions to be reported directly to Hokage-sama. Especially ones regarding Rock. Since it's S rank, that may be why you're reported dead. Go make an appointment with Hokage-sama, and I'll look into putting your name back into action."

Minato inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. At least these guys were competent when they needed to be... or should be, anyway. Since they were in the middle of a war with Rock, it was nice to see they knew how to be serious.

Giving them a quick bow, he turned on his heal and hopped up onto a nearby rooftop, aiming in the direction of the Hokage tower. However, as soon as he got up on top of another taller building nearby, he came to a screeching halt.

There was a fourth face on the mountain.

What made it even more shocking, was that it resembled him.

He knew the council was in talks because the Sandaime wanted to step down. But they had all agreed that there would be no new Hokage until the war was over. His sensei, Jiraiya, had let it slip one evening over a large amount of sake that he was a shoe-in for the spot, because of his deeds so far during the war, and that Sarutobi-sama was getting more and more wary of Orochimaru.

Seeing another face up on the mountain, even if it did look quite a lot like him... it hurt. Especially after he was told nothing would happen until after the war. If it was supposed to be some kind of surprise, it was done in bad taste. Even still, his mind started going into overdrive once again. There were some weird things going on ever since he tested that seal. How long could he have been gone? His arrival in the forest seemed to be at the same time of day from when he charged the experimental transport seal in his apartment.

Pushing any further thoughts to the back of his mind, he sped off towards the Hokage tower, desperately in need of some answers.

* * *

Minato approached the secretary's desk outside the Sandaime's office. There was a young woman working there... he didn't recognize her either. Starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable, he walked up to her desk and gently cleared his throat, causing her to look up from whatever it was she was reading.

"Oh! Hello, I'm sorry. I was reading this report and didn't notice you come in. Can I help you with something?"

Minato nodded and gave her a small smile. "Yes, I'd like to make an appointment to see Hokage-sama, please."

The woman nodded and returned the smile. "Actually, I think he's free this hour. His last appointment finished early." She stood up from her desk and grabbed a few pieces of paper. "What's your name and purpose of your visit?"

"Kazama Arashi, reporting in from an S rank mission."

The secretary's eyes went wide for a second, and she hurried over to the door. She talked to him over her shoulder. "I'll tell him right away. Let me hand him these papers and let him know, and I'll be right back."

As the door opened then closed after she stepped through, Minato felt his confusion hitting its peak. He felt lost. The secretary seemed so surprised when he mentioned it was an S rank mission. But yet... they were in the middle of a war, there were more S rank missions available than they had active shinobi able to handle them all.

At least, thats what he thought two hours ago. Something was definitely going on. He didn't get a chance to think on it for too much longer, however, as the secretary returned. She propped the door open for him as she gestured in with her free hand. "The Sandaime will see you now."

He walked over and mumbled a thank you as he passed, to which she tossed him a quick smile. As he entered the spartan office and heard the door close silently behind him, he looked around and sighed in relief. At least this place still looked familar.

"You have some explaining to do, young man."

Minato's gaze finally settled on the Sandaime, who was standing in front of his desk. One of his arms was wrapped around his chest while his other arm casually held up the pipe he had just pulled out of his mouth in order to speak. Sarutobi Hiruzen was giving Minato a look that was something between worry and wonder.

"What do you mean, Sarutobi-sama? I've only been gone for two hours at most."

One of the Sandaime's eyebrows shot sky-high. "You look nothing like the Kazama Arashi I used to know."

Minato blinked, then barked out a laugh, causing the Hokage to stare at him blankly. Making a hand sign, Minato uttered a simple word. **"Kai!"**

The disguise vanished in a quick puff of smoke. Minato totally forgot he placed it on himself before he went to talk to the traveler. His face was too well-known, and he didn't know if she was a spy, so he didn't want to risk it.

He heard the Hokage's pipe hit the floor. Soon after that, the man spoke in a hoarse voice, like he was trying to restrain some kind of emotion. It only managed to irk and confuse Minato further.

"W-what!? What is going on? You're supposed to be dead, Minato! I saw your dead body several times!"

Minato just scratched his head, utterly confused. "Sarutobi-sama, I just talked to you about four hours ago, this morning."

Sarutobi blinked again, confusion surpassing any other emotion. Since it seemed like the man wasn't going to be saying anything immediately, Minato asked a question.

"By the way, what's the deal with that new face put on the mountain? I thought we agreed not to choose the next Hokage until the war was over. But much to my surprise, I'm out of Konoha for two, maybe three hours, and when I come back there's a new face on the mountain. That's pretty fast, even if you're using jutsu to do it. I know it looks like me, but if I'm supposed to be surprised, I have to say it's really bad timing."

He was expecting the Hokage to say something, or even flinch from the sarcastic tone he was using. However, Sarutobi simply continued to stare at him. Instead of replying, or even saying another word, the Hokage simply pointed slightly to Minato's right.

He turned to look at what the Hokage was pointing at. All that was in that direction was four pictures hanging from a wall.

Minato's thoughts ground to a halt. There were only three this morning. Walking over to inspect them, he recognized the first three immediately. Nothing had changed. It was the fourth one that stunned him the most. When he stopped in front of it, all he saw... was himself.

Granted, he looked a little older in the picture. There was a small scar on the side of his chin that he knew he didn't have, and his hair in the picture was a bit longer than his current length now. But he could not deny that was himself in the picture. He looked down at the bottom of the frame to read the inscription in the metal plate.

All the blood drained from his face.

_Namikaze Minato  
**Yondaime Hokage**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**A/N:**_ I admit, I wanted to write some Minato. My main fic right now, Whirlpool Country, is going to get plenty of Kushina love. However, Minato is officially dead in that one. This fic is one that I've had bouncing around in my head for the past 2 or three months, and I was working on a rough outline for it right after I finished the outline for Whirlpool. This chapter is just the prologue, the others may or may not be longer, I haven't really decided yet. But this is just something I'm going to be working on while waiting for my beta to finish checking chapters of Whirlpool Country.

So with this fic, I was thinking... I have yet to read a fic where Minato goes into the future. I've read a ton of fics where people go backwards, but I can't recall one in my memory of one where people actually went forward. It's so easy to do with Minato, as you read above. "Hey, experimental seal!" "Whoops!" "Oh dear." That's it. What exactly Minato was trying to do will be explained later. What happened here is just a fluke, completely unexpected.

This fic will be updated whenever my beta is checking chapters for Whirlpool Country, so I wouldn't expect chapters -that- often, as this will only be a secondary fic. On top of that, it will only be about 10 chapters long, give or take. There may be a fic similar to this, but I honestly haven't read many Yondaime fics, so as far as I know this is fairly original.

As for ages, the Naruto timeline is rather vague when it comes to any kind of timeline. For the purposes of this fic, the Minato we just met is twenty two years old.


	2. 59 EC

_Minato Namikaze__**  
Yondaime Hokage  
****May 15th, 45 - October 10th, 47 EC**_

Minato entered into a staring contest with his portrait, neither of them blinking for what seemed to be a rather exaggerated amount of time. Finally, Minato blinked - then stumbled backward a few steps and landed rather unceremoniously into the nearest chair.

He brought his hands up and ran them through his long golden locks. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to will himself to believe that it wasn't real. That perhaps he had somehow been placed into a genjutsu when he was least expecting it.

Bringing his hands down from his forehead, he formed a familiar hand sign and prepared to break any sort of technique that might be active on him. Before he could even start to manipulate his chakra, however, the Sandaime started speaking to him.

"I wouldn't bother with that, Minato-kun. I can assure you, this is no genjutsu - unless I am under one as well. But as you may or may not be aware, there are seals all over this room that were placed here by you to forbid the manipulation of chakra."

Still not entirely believing, since he had never done anything of the sort, Minato tried furiously to manipulate his chakra to break any genjutsu. Try as he might, though... it wasn't working. His hands fell to his knees, bracing himself.

"Why can't I mold my chakra?"

"I believe I already told you."

Minato sighed, then looked up at the Sandaime. He examined the man carefully this time. Now that he actually paid attention, and the man had removed his hat... Sarutobi definitely had a few more wrinkles than he had this morning.

"How did you manage to age so much in just a couple hours, old man?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen barked out a laugh, then slowly started walking over towards one of the windows, gazing outside over the Hidden Village of Konoha. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Minato-kun. I thought you were dead. Where have you been hiding, and why did you fake your death?"

Minato was confused, to say the least. "I don't understand what you're talking about, Sandaime-sama. I just saw you a couple hours ago, at most. I told you I was testing a new seal this morning and that I'd inform you of the results as soon as I was done."

The Sandaime was quiet for several seconds. "Allow an old man some questions to ease his curiousity, Minato-kun. I know they will seem strange to you, but I can assure you they all have a purpose."

Minato nodded, as he was never one to refuse the Sandaime anything.

"My secretary informs me that you have an S-Rank mission to report?"

Minato nodded again.

"Please do that first, then."

Taking a deep breath, Minato began to regale the Sandaime with the tale of his latest mission in Grass, intercepting Rock patrols. "I already reported in at the booth last week regarding this mission, it seemed to be the only way they'd let me back to talk to you though."

The Sandaime chuckled. "It makes sense. I haven't given out an S-Rank mission in almost four months."

Minato gaped. "But... but we're in the middle of a war! Aren't we!?"

This time however, the Hokage did not answer. Instead, he asked another question. "How old are you now, Minato-kun?"

Stumped by the dismissal of his question and the suddenness of the new question asked, Minato took a few seconds to formulate a response, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly at first. "I'm twenty-two."

Sarutobi merely nodded, then refilled his pipe and lit it before he answered, leaving Minato's response lingering in the air for a good two minutes. He took a few puffs, then sat down in his chair, and looked Minato straight in the eyes.

"In approximately two months, you will have been dead for nearly twelve years."

Minato was stunned. How could he be dead, when he was sitting here, right in front of the Hokage? It didn't make any sense. "What do you mean I'm dead?! I'm right here!" He gestured over at the picture. "What's going on? That picture has a set of dates on it that haven't even happened yet!"

Sarutobi sighed, then shook his head. "Minato-kun, you told my younger self no more than a few hours ago that you were testing a new seal, correct?"

Minato just nodded.

"What was the purpose of this seal?"

"It was supposed to be an extension of my abilities with Hiraishin. An instant teleport that would take me to distant pre-determined locations beyond the distance I can go with Hiraishin. The biggest downside is that it soaks up chakra like a sponge."

"Did it work?"

Minato shrugged. "It seemed like it at first, but now I'm not too sure. I went out into the forest earlier and placed the target seal. When I got back to my apartment and started putting chakra into the teleportation seal, there were some intense vibrations in the air. Next thing I knew, I appeared right above some trees in the middle of the forest. I didn't see my target seal anywhere, but I guess I arrived at about where it should have been."

"So for all intents and purposes, it was a success?"

Minato scratched his chin. "I guess so. But it seems like a lot has changed since I was here last... I didn't think that much time had passed..."

Sarutobi shook his head. "You know better than most how tricky seals can be. You did something with the seal you were testing. It not only teleported you to the location you wanted, it also pushed you into the future."

"T-The what?! The future? But that can't be possible!"

The Hokage nodded sagely. "I assure you it is. One of my students, your sensei, managed to figure it out as well. But he went into the past."

Minato's curiousity was piqued. "He hasn't mentioned anything about time travel to me."

"That's because it's incredibly dangerous. Though perhaps going into the past is more dangerous than travelling into the future. He went into the past to do some things for his past self so he could more easily get in his other teammate's, Tsunade's, good graces. It worked - to a certain extent."

He waited for the Sandaime to continue, but the old man just sighed and looked out the window again. Minato figured he'd have to prod to get the older man to continue. "So what's bad about it if it worked?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "It got him in her good graces, but everything has to balance out eventually. Something happened later on down the line that got him in twice as much trouble with her than ever before. Eventually he gave up, and swore off time travel. I'm surprised he never told you."

Minato frowned, and shook his head negatively. "He didn't say anything other than time and space manipulation seals are tricky at best and impossible to master. He looked like a pervert in a whorehouse when I showed him Hiraishin, though."

Sarutobi laughed outright at that mental image. After his laughter settled down, he focused an intense gaze on Minato. "I obviously can't stop you from testing your seals. I do want to offer a word of warning though, for your consideration."

Minato didn't say anything, but merely nodded, waiting for the Hokage to continue.

"Traveling into the past is dangerous, because you can change your present in ways you may not predict. Killing an enemy early before they become an enemy in your current timeline may cause disastrous results. It's impossible to predict, but according to Jiraiya, 'usually not worth it'."

The Hokage pulled his pipe out of his mouth once again, and set it down on his desk, then folded his arms on the desk in front of him. "Traveling into the future is another matter entirely. You'll be aware of what can happen if you do the things you would normally do when the time of certain events hit. You'll be aware of them as they are happening, and can change the course of action you would have taken to get the future to end up the way it does. But then what happens if you don't like the result because you made a different choice than you normally would have? Do you go back into the past and convince your past self to make the choice you would have originally? It will be a neverending cycle of going into the future to see your options, then going back into the past to convince yourself otherwise if the choice you picked wasn't worth it."

Minato was rubbing his forehead. "This is confusing me."

The Sandaime chuckled lightly. "It is for me too, and I'm the one explaining it."

There were several moments of silence before the Sandaime cleared his throat, gaining Minato's full attention once more.

"Let me try to simplify it. The things you see now, as you wander around... if you change any decisions you make when you go back to your time based on what you know after coming to the future... things here could cease to exist. Is that something you want on your conscience?"

Minato looked perturbed. "Not really, but would all of my decisions have a negative effect?"

Sarutobi merely shrugged. "That's not for me to say. It may, or it may not. Do you want to take that risk? I can think of one person right now who would be incredibly affected by any decisions you may change based on current circumstances."

"Who?"

"I can't tell you, for if I do, you may change a decision, and they may cease to exist. Would that be fair to them?"

Minato hung his head. "No... not really."

"Exactly. You always were quick to catch onto things." The Hokage leaned back in his chair, eyes still on Minato, who was looking rather downcast. "You do have a way to get back to your time, don't you?"

Looking back up, Minato shrugged and fidgeted slightly, tapping his fingertips together. "The seal had a return element embedded into it, so assuming it will work the way I designed it to, I would be pulled back to the lab in my apartment after about eight hours. It's been approximately three so far."

"Let's hope it works then, for your sake."

Minato merely snorted. "If I'm dead, I don't see why it matters."

Sarutobi slammed his hand down on his desk, surprising Minato and making him jump in the chair he was sitting on. "It matters because if you don't, then someone else cannot live!"

While surprised at the Hokage's outburst, he tossed that comment around in his head a few times. If he didn't live, someone else couldn't either? That didn't make any sense... unless...

"Did I have children? A wife?"

Sarutobi turned away, refusing to meet Minato's eyes. "I can't tell you. I already explained why. Just know that you have to live. The very fact that it doesn't seem like anything else has changed so far and your picture is still on the wall means you must make it back to your time again somehow."

Minato leaned back in his chair and sighed, running his hands through his hair once again. "This is weird, knowing I'm going to die."

"Maybe you don't have to."

"I thought you just said I couldn't change anything without messing up what I know now."

Sarutobi nodded. "You just have to figure out the point you're going to die. When you know it's going to happen, you'll probably have a choice to make. Several, actually."

There was a groan, then a snort from the blond. "I guess that means you can't tell me anything else without causing serious problems."

Now the Sandaime smiled. "Like I said, you catch on quick."

Minato waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, I think. Do you have any more advice, or should I just wait for the timer to kick in and see what happens?"

Sarutobi merely shrugged. "Go out into the village, take a look at what has changed. We're actually in peace time right now, and have been for over a decade. Enjoy it. Other than that, I can't really tell you anything else. Just... try to avoid using any time travel techniques or seals again."

Minato frowned. "Why?"

"Because as I explained before, the results are often risky and unreliable, perhaps even undesirable. I leave the final decision up to you, but I have given my advice on the matter... take it or leave it."

Nodding, Minato stood up and stretched. "Well then, thank you for your time Hokage-sama. I'm sorry to have bothered you, and thank you for the advice. I'll take a look around for a little while before I go back."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded to the young man who walked for the exit, reapplied his disguise, then gave a small wave as he left the office. Wondering if things would be different tomorrow, he soon realized it was pointless to think about it, since he'd never know.

He knew one thing though... he was getting a headache.

* * *

Feeling his stomach rumble, Minato decided to find someplace to eat. He had been wandering around the village for the past four hours or so, and knew it had to be approaching the time where he was going to be pulled back to his correct time. If the return seal didn't work, he'd have to figure out a way to make a seal from this time to get him back where he was. Nervousness began settling into his body, but then he recalled his conversation with the Hokage and relaxed slightly. If he didn't get back to his own time then his face wouldn't still be on the mountain.

Not that it mattered, but he hoped no one noticed him peek over his shoulder to make sure his face was still there. If he was confident about being named Hokage before, he was estatic now, since he knew that he would get it.

That thought caused him to inhale sharply, realizing just how much truth there was to the Sandaime's advice earlier. Even though he knew he was going to be Hokage now, he couldn't slack off at all... if he did, it could really mess things up for a lot of people. Plus, it may cause this 'important person' mentioned earlier to never exist. He never wanted to harm anyone, intentionally or not, if they were completely innocent. To know that he held control over a persons very existence... it was different than knowing he had an enemies life in his hands. There was someone's entire existence that depended on a choice he would make. It was both awesome and frightening as hell to think about.

Just as he was mentally steeling his resolve to follow through with his intense mission and training regimen to make sure he gained the title of Hokage someday, his nose caught wind of a very familiar smell.

Ramen.

Not that he was a huge fan of the stuff, but his girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina, worshipped the noodles like it was a religion. Thinking about her brought a quick pang to his heart... if he wanted to ever see her again, he absolutely had to get back to his time. He had stopped by her apartment to see if perhaps she still lived there, but there was some elderly couple instead. They knew nothing about the person who lived in the apartment before them either. It was unfortunate, but probably for the best, especially if he was dead in this time. He had no idea what seeing him alive, and young, might do to her.

His nose finally found the source of the ramen, and to his surprise, it was a place he knew very well. Ichiraku's. The man who owned the place, Teuchi, and his wife both were very hard workers. He was amazed at how just the two of them could run the place so well... while the stand was never extremely busy, it always seemed to be busy enough whenever Kushina dragged him there. Right now, however... there was only one person there, and it looked like the customer was a young boy wearing some garish orange outfit.

Kushina would have a field day with that kid. He never understood her obsession with that color, and was too afraid to ask. That woman could be downright scary when she was annoyed.

Making sure his disguise was still in place, Minato moved his way over to the counter and sat down one stool over from the kid. Teuchi came over almost immediately, smiling.

"What can I get ya, stranger?"

Minato, disguised once more as Arashi, rubbed his chin. "I'll get a bowl of miso and a bowl of pork, please."

Teuchi nodded, still smiling. "Coming right up." As Teuchi turned around to prepare the meal, Minato was glad to see that nothing much had changed about the pleasant man. He had put on a little weight and his hair had some gray in it now... but otherwise, he seemed to be just like he did... twelve years ago.

Thinking about his present in the past tense was a difficult concept to grasp.

Minato turned to look at the kid sitting next to him, since he hadn't really examined him closely yet. Turning his head, he jerked to a stop as soon as his eyes settled on an untidy mop of blond hair. It looked just like how he used to style his... but this was the future... not the past...

"Got a problem, nii-san?"

Minato blinked quickly a few times, unaware that he was staring. "Wha- no, I'm sorry. You just reminded me of someone, that's all. I didn't mean to stare."

The kid stared back at him, his face scrunched up, apparently not believing him. Finally the kid just let out a noise between a grunt and a sigh, then turned back to devouring his ramen... his sixth bowl, if the stack next to him was in fact his.

"I hope you don't have a problem with the kid, too."

Minato turned back to Teuchi, who had two steaming bowls of ramen in his hand, looking at the boy then back to Minato with a frown on his face.

"N-No, no problem at all. He just reminded me of someone, and I was surprised. That's all, I swear."

Teuchi nodded and placed the bowls down in front of Minato, then handed him a set of chopsticks. "It's a shame the way the kid gets treated, even though he's done nothing to deserve it. People these days... if the Yondaime was still alive, he'd be appalled."

Minato blinked. He would be? "Why would he be appalled?"

Teuchi stared at Minato incredulously. "You're old enough to know aren't you?"

The disguised future Hokage shook his head negatively. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I just got back after a long term S-rank mission. I'm not in the village often at all."

Teuchi frowned, but then shrugged. "Well, if you don't already know, I can't tell you. The Sandaime declared it to be an S-rank secret, punishable by death if anyone tells."

Minato looked at the kid again, who had stopped eating his ramen, but was obviously listening in. Teuchi noticed too, and sighed.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I know you don't like me talking about that. Have another bowl of ramen on me."

The kid immediately perked up. So fast, in fact, that Minato couldn't help but wonder if the kid was acting depressed for that very reason. "Naruto? That's your name?"

Naruto looked at Minato again, squinting this time. "Yeah, what about it?" Once again, Minato was amazed how much the kid looked just like himself when he was younger. Messy blond hair, and his eyes were just barely a shade darker than his own. The only striking difference between them was that this kid had three marks on each cheek, making it look like he had whiskers.

Minato had to admit, it looked cool.

"Nothing's wrong with that name, I think it's awesome. Heck, if I ever have a kid, I might name him Naruto."

Naruto's demeanor immediately changed from being condescending to appreciative. "Really?"

Minato just nodded, then turned back to his own ramen. "Yeah, definitely. It sounds cool."

He heard Naruto chuckle next to him, then the boy started devouring his ramen once again. Sickering to himself, Minato started working on his own bowls. He wanted to know more as to why the kid... Naruto, was treated badly, but fought with himself over it as he ate. The less he knew, the better. This way he wouldn't risk accidentally messing something up when he went back to his own time period. Not only that, he didn't want to gain any sort of attachment to this point in time, either.

Somewhere in the middle of his second bowl, he registered Naruto loudly exclaiming his thanks to Teuchi, who merely smiled and accepted some slips of paper from the boy. Turning to watch the boy leave, he was amused to see Naruto running down the emptying street. The sun was disappearing behind the buildings, stretching all the shadows. "That kid is full of energy, apparently."

Teuchi nodded, flipping through the pieces of paper. "That he is. If they could find a way to harness his energy, he could probably power Konoha for a week."

Minato chuckled lightly, eyeing the papers that Teuchi was flipping through with his fingers. "What are those?"

Teuchi must have been thinking about something else, because he jumped a little bit when asked the question. "What? Oh... these?" He fanned the papers slowly in Minato's direction. "These are coupons."

"I wasn't aware that you had coupons."

Shaking his head, the ramen chef gave Minato a grim smile. "We don't."

To say the least, Minato was confused yet again. "I don't get it."

Teuchi scratched his head, then set the coupons down on the counter behind him. "Well, you said you aren't in Konoha much, and you obviously don't know about Naruto. I can't tell you much about him, I already gave you the reasons. But I can tell you that the poor kid is an orphan, on top of his other problems. He's the only one that gets the coupons, but I don't tell him that. I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything either."

Minato winced and nodded. "My lips are sealed. Is his being an orphan a result of his other problem?"

There was a shrug. "I don't really know, to be honest. I'm not sure if anyone ever knew who his parents were. If they gave him up because of what was done to him, then they have my eternal scorn."

As much as Minato felt that he shouldn't care, because he really couldn't... he wanted to know what was wrong with Naruto. Maybe it was just because the kid looked just like him when he was little, or maybe not. Whatever the reason, he'd gotten curious. When he got curious, he started doing some crazy shit.

Or at least that's what Jiraiya-sensei said.

Reaching for his chopsticks to finish what was left of his second bowl, he was startled to see that his thumb and pinky were missing. Correction, not missing, but getting transparent. Upon further examination, he noticed his other arm was starting to get transparent as well. He was immediately flooded with relief... the recall seal was performing correctly. He just had to hope that now it would at least deposit him in his present, not in another place in the future, or past.

Teuchi noticed, as he was pointing at Minato's arm that was quickly disappearing. "What's wrong with your arm?"

Minato gave Teuchi a grin. "It's a new technique I was testing... of course it would decide to kick in while I'm eating. Never fails." Laughing lightly, Minato pulled some ryo out of a pouch attached to his hip. "Here you go, that should cover the meal. Sorry I can't stay around and cha-"

Whatever Minato was going to say got cut off, he had dropped the money on the counter right before he disappeared completely with a soft popping noise. Teuchi just shook his head and chuckled, mumbling something about unpredictable shinobi these days.

As he grabbed the money off the counter, he squinted at it, then sighed.

"Where the heck was that guy from? They stopped using this print years ago."

* * *

**A/N:** Allow me to explain the dates at the very beginning. There is no official timeline for Naruto. Everything that exists right now is merely fan speculation. As a result, I have to guesstimate the time periods that a lot of these chapters will happen in, as well as the canon timeline.

For future reference, October 10th, 47 EC was the day Naruto was born. It was also the last day that Minato was alive.

EC stands for 'Elemental Countries', or that it has been 47 years since the elemental countries were formed. The early years of Konoha were vague, other than there were constant warring clans. Eventually the Senju and the Uchiha made peace, and agreed with the Daimyo of Fire to make the hidden shinobi village of Konoha. Other countries and ninja clans started following this example, and thus as the dominant country, Fire decided that the date of Konoha's founding would be the year 1 EC from then on, or the first year since the formation of the Elemental Countries.

Please keep in mind, that the years or the 'EC' standard is something I just came up with to further explain Minato's time traveling. Would it be cool if Kishimoto-sensei decided to make something similar to what I did official? Yeah. What are the chances of it happening? Probably next to zero. This is purely for the purposes of entertaining you all, and explaining the time periods in which Minato appears.

For more reference, to help you get a grasp of the situation... Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage, was born about 13 BEC. He became the Sandaime in 3 EC. That would place him at about 16 years old when he ascended to Hokage. At the moment Minato appears in this chapter, 59 EC, Sarutobi is 72 which is -extremely- old for a shinobi, but at the same time shows just how powerful he is.

Namikaze Minato is currently 22 in his present time: 43 EC. He becomes hokage at 45 EC, and dies at 47 EC, at the young age of 26. In 59 EC, where this chapter takes place, he would have been 38. When Shippuden starts, he would have been pushing 41.

Hopefully this helps everyone understand time periods/ages. I've tried to make it as close to canon as possible, though I'm sure some liberties have been taken. I did my best.


	3. 43 EC

If you want to know what the **_EC_** stands for, read the A/N at the end of chapter 2. Enjoy some MinaKushi goodness.

* * *

_**April 10th, 43 EC**_

Minato grunted from the impact of the crash landing on the floor in his workshop. He had tried to adjust himself in midair, pivoting his body slightly before he dropped so that he wouldn't land on his head. The seals he used brought him to the relative location they were originally, but he didn't think there was anything he could really do about his positioning. Earlier in the forest, he had appeared facing the sky, and now in his apartment he had materialized upside down.

He would have hit the ground head first, but quick thinking and action from his experiences with using Hiraishin enabled him to shift his body enough so that he came down onto his shoulder and upper arm.

It still hurt like the dickens, regardless.

Minato shifted himself upright into a sitting position and slowly rubbed his throbbing shoulder. As he looked around, he was immediately filled with relief. It looked like the the return seal worked properly, as everything in his workshop seemed to be exactly as he had left it. Taking a quick glance out the window, he noted that there was a very dim light coming through.

It was late afternoon, if not evening. That meant the time of day remained the same when he travelled, it was only the date that changed.

Climbing to his feet and grumbling as he felt his knees pop again, he casually sauntered over to his desk. He let out a sigh as he looked at what lie on top, his original copy of the supposed teleportation seal that he just finished testing. He would have to do some more research to figure out how to tweak the seal and remove the time travel element, but first he needed to just get some rest.

With another sigh, he wandered over towards the door which led into the rest of his apartment. As he headed down the hallway towards his room, his senses screamed at him barely a second before he felt two sharp objects poking him. One at the base of his spine, and another resting against his jugular.

"I should kill you now for standing me up this afternoon, teme."

Minato began to sweat ever so slightly. Of course, with everything that happened to him earlier today, he had totally forgotten about a promise he had made two days ago. The person ready to kill him was enough of a hothead, and if he didn't pick his words very carefully, he would definitely not be Hokage. Minato quickly brought that thought process to a halt as the implication of what may not happen in the future if he died right now, and instead concentrated on the present danger.

Minato closed his eyes and let his head droop a little, feeling the sharp object pressed against his throat dig into his skin a little more. "I'm sorry, Kushina-chan. It's completely my fault. I'll take whatever punishment you have in mind, even if it means my death."

There was a sharp intake of breath behind him, then he felt the weapons slowly remove themselves from his back and neck. He didn't move, but he heard the girl behind him let out a deep sigh before she started talking again.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was? I... I looked all over Konoha for the entire afternoon for you, and I couldn't find you anywhere. No one at the gate or on the walls had seen you leave, Jiraiya-sama hadn't seen you, Tsunade-sama hadn't seen you, and all Hokage-sama could tell me was that you were testing a new jutsu. But e-even he looked worried when he t-told me that you were due back hours ago!"

Minato had turned around and looked at his girlfriend of six months with sorrowful eyes as she continued. Her breathing started hitching about halfway through her mini-rant, and he noticed all too easlily the tear streaks that were running down her face. By the time she finished, he had gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she began sobbing into his chest in earnest.

"Shhh... I'm back now, Kushina-chan. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."

He felt her gradually move her arms around his waist as he rested his chin on the top of her head. Kushina's sobbing eventually stopped, only to be replaced by a continuous string of sniffles.

Moving his hands down a little to slowly rub her back, it dawned on him why she was so shaken by him being missing. She had just lost her entire village two months ago after Earth Country surprised them all and invaded Whirlpool Country from the sea. They did their best to wipe out every village, down to the very last person in the country that they could find, suprising most of the shinobi world with the display of savage brutality. That they had managed to do it so fast and were indiscriminate with their killing made Minato furious when he first heard, and he wrought hell all over the battlefield for Earth Country forces - be they samurai, mercenaries, or shinobi.

Everything the nineteen year old girl had known was gone. Minato was one of the only things she had left that was still important to her, and he had left her alone and not told her what he was doing or where he was going. Granted - he had no idea that he'd be launched into the future all day, but regret still started swirling around in his gut, making him feel rather unpleasant.

"You owe me."

Jolted from his thoughts, Minato merely agreed. "Anything."

She pulled back a little and removed one of her arms that was wrapped around him to take a swipe at her eyes. Looking up at him with a small grin and eyes that were bloodshot from crying, she seemed to take some small delight from him being so agreeable.

"Since you stood me up for lunch, you're going to take me to dinner instead."

"Ramen?"

Minato was certain they could hear her squeal of joy all the way across the Great Sea.

* * *

"Ahhhh, this is the life."

Minato chuckled in response as he sat next to Kushina, picking at his miso ramen sitting in front of him. He had just been at this very ramen stand - 12 years in the future - perhaps an hour ago, so he wasn't really hungry. But he was trying to finish his bowl for Kushina's sake.

Meanwhile his girlfriend was happily slurping down what appeared to be her fifth bowl so far. It amazed him, not only because she had a figure that most women would kill for, but also because he had no idea where she managed to put the sheer amount of ramen she ate. Moments like this didn't happen rarely either. He could either find her here, or bring her himself with a frightening degree of regularity.

"Hey, Kushina-chan?"

The girl stopped eating and turned to look at him with noodles still hanging out of her mouth. She blinked owlishly at him as he begain snickering uncontrollably.

Scowling at him, Kushina turned away for a moment to finish the noodles she had started eating, then turned back to her boyfriend, who was trying his best to stop his sniggering. Her hand started working its way down her thigh where her kunai pouch was located, and Minato immediately started waving his hands back and forth in a placating gesture.

"Sorry! Sorry! You just looked so... I don't know... adorable for a moment that it was funny! I swear!"

He noticed her hand immediately stop short as a blush started creeping across her cheeks. Turning away, she stared intently at the half-finished bowl in front of her. "So... what did you call my name for?"

It was Minato's turn to blink as he remembered why he had originally called her name. "Oh! I have a sort of... odd... question for you..."

As he trailed off, Kushina turned to look at him again, the eyebrow he could see was arched upward. "Odd? Most things you talk to me about are odd. I'm used to it. Go ahead."

It was his turn to blush as he looked rather sheepish. Turning back to his ramen, Minato cleared his throat and started poking at the noodles with his chopsticks. "Let's say... you could go to the future... just to see how things would end up. If you saw something you wanted to change when you returned to your time, would you do it?"

When he didn't get a reply for several seconds, he turned away from his ramen to glance at his girlfriend. She was giving him a rather incredulous stare. He suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"What?"

Kushina just shook her head, and returned to her own ramen once more. "I swear, you're just getting more odd every day." That said, she started gobbling up what was left of her current bowl.

Minato frowned slightly, leaning over the counter and rested his chin in the palm of his left hand. He casually watched his present time's Ichiraku Teuchi busily getting more pots of noodles ready for his customers. "I know it's a weird question, but I was just curious what you might think about it."

"I'd rather go to the past."

Minato glanced at Kushina from the corner of his eye and watched as she slurped down the remaining broth from her meal, then wiped her mouth clean. Focusing his attention on her now, she met his glance and held his gaze, unflinchingly.

"I think you know why, without me needing to explain."

The man who had only recently been dubbed as the Yellow Flash merely nodded. It didn't need to be spoken.

Whirlpool.

"So what if the only option was to go to the future. Would you change things, if you knew?"

Kushina sighed and turned away, looking at her stack of ramen bowls. Teuchi's wife, Yukari, came over and asked if Kushina would like another bowl, to which the girl declined. The mature woman smiled, and proceeded to remove the stack of empty bowls.

"You're not going to let this one go, are you?"

Minato shrugged, but Kushina wasn't looking at him. "If you don't want to answer, or don't have an opinion, that's fine. I was just curious."

Now Kushina did turn to look at him. She was squinting slightly, as if examining something about him. One of her hands idly pushed a few loose strands of her shoulder-length hair behind her ear as she voiced her opinion. "I'm not sure. It depends on who would be affected if I did. If it would change too much, I probably wouldn't."

Minato nodded, and scratched at his chin. Snippets of his conversation with the future Sandaime moved to the forefront of his mind. There was something there in the old mans words... he was being extremely careful when he was talking about certain events. He had an idea about what the old man was referring to, and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Turning on his stool to look out from the stand, Minato leaned his back against the counter and crossed his arms. He could tell that Kushina was watching him carefully, even though she was absolutely quiet. She had admitted to him long ago, back when they first started dating, that she loved to sit and watch him think. At first he felt it was embarrassing, but had eventually gotten used to it.

Watching a few people walk by on the street, he tossed her another question. "Let's say you had the chance to go to the future. You find out, in the future, that you have a child. However, you died as a result. When you returned to your present time, would you still have the child, knowing you would die?"

Kushina's answer was immediate.

"Of course."

Eyebrows raised high, Minato's head snapped around to look at his girlfriend, obviously surprised. "Really?"

The expression on Kushina's face was one of utmost seriousness. "I would not deny someone else their existence because I feared for my own. Especially not my own child."

Minato just smiled at her. "I love you."

Kushina blinked, immediately blushing crimson. "B-Baka! Don't just suddenly say it like that, I was being serious!"

Minato chuckled as he turned to deposit money on the counter for their meal. "So was I." He caught Teuchi's eye and gave the man a nod, who returned it and gave a small wave. Minato gently grabbed Kushina's arm and pulled her away from the ramen stand, and they started walking in the direction of her apartment.

There were several moments of pleasant silence, Minato was looking at the stars that were starting to appear in the quickly dimming sky as Kushina looked around while humming to herself.

Suddenly, her humming stopped. "Minato-kun?"

He barely heard her, but he began to sweat. When she spoke quietly and in a steady voice, it meant she was deadly serious, even if she wasn't acting that way. It was even worse when she applied the suffix to his name.

"Hmm?"

"Where exactly were you this afternoon? I swear I looked everywhere."

Minato's breath hitched for a moment as his mind spun wildly around things he could tell her. While he really wanted her to know that he knew of a way to get into the future... it may be too early to talk to her about something like that. He wouldn't be comfortable if she started demanding a way for her to travel to the past, because it was too risky.

"Like Hokage-sama said to you, I was testing a new jutsu. It just had some... unexpected results."

When he didn't elaborate, she elbowed his side gently. "So what were you doing and what happened? I'm not letting you off the hook that easy."

Minato chuckled despite how dangerous the actual results were. "Well... it was supposed to be a seal that would enable me to travel great distances near instantaneously." Minato looked at Kushina with a big grin, while she just chuckled and rolled her eyes at him, clapping her hands together lightly in a mocking fashion.

"So let me guess. Something backfired?"

Shaking his head briefly, Minato looked back up at the sky. "Not really. I more or less... overshot my mark. By quite a lot."

"So it sent you further than it should have?"

That sounded good enough to Minato. "You could say that. I was supposed to end up just a few miles outside Konoha's walls, in the forest." Thinking back to his crash landing, something else tickled his mind that he figured would fit in and help make his excuse a little more plausible. "It launched me all the way to Wave Country."

Kushina laughed outright. "Wow, talk about overshooting your mark. I thought you were better than that with seals."

Minato mock-pouted. "I am. It was just a... small miscalculation with big results."

His girlfriend snorted outright. "I'll say. Then you have the gall to worry me half to death."

The mood instantly became more somber between the two of them. "I really am very sorry about that. I had no idea it would take me so long to get back. I was an idiot and so concerned about the seal, I wanted to test the auto-return aspect."

Kushina appeared puzzled. "Auto-return?"

"Yeah, in case there was a problem with the seal, which there was... I set a timer on another part of the seal that would pull me back to my original spot. At least it worked... but I should have made it shorter than eight hours."

"Hrmph. Okay. Just don't do that again." She slipped her hand into his. "Let me know when there's a chance you may be gone for a while next time. Please?"

Minato gave her a small smile. "I promise."

Kushina's serious look changed instantly as a huge smile burst onto her face. "Great!"

The two young shinobi spent the next few minutes in a quiet, companionable silence. They walked hand in hand down the street, watching as merchants started closing their stalls for the night. Occasionally he would catch the eye of one of the merchants or another passerby on the street they were walking down, and the other person would instantly smile and offer a wave.

He suddenly stopped short as he realized the hand he was holding was no longer moving with him. "Wha-?"

Kushina giggled. "Off in your own little world thinking about your super shinobi jutsus and seals again, aren't you? This is my apartment."

Minato blushed, and merely looked up at the building she rented an apartment is. "So it is." He looked back down at Kushina again. He could have sworn she was blushing, but with the rapidly diminishing light it was hard to tell. "So, will I see you sometime tomorrow?"

Kushina nodded, but didn't release his hand. "I'm sure I'll be able to find and nag you at some point tomorrow. I need to meet Tsunade-sama early, and after that I'm supposed to go shopping with Rin. She knows all your hangouts pretty well."

Minato laughed, nodding. "That she does. If she wasn't my student and teammate, I might have mistaken her for a fangirl."

Kushina grinned again as well. "I might have gotten jealous too."

Minato gave a look of shock. "You, jealous? Never."

Instead of replying, his girlfriend merely stuck her tongue out at him playfully. When she didn't say anything else, Minato looked down at her hand which was still holding his. "So um, should I get going?"

Kushina made a show of looking like she was thinking carefully, but eventually her gaze softened. She spoke quietly again. "Stay with me tonight. Please."

Minato chewed on his lower lip, staring back at her. "Are you sure? Don't you have to be up early to meet Tsunade-sama for training?"

"I do, but I'm too high strung right now. I need you to help me fall asleep."

It didn't take Minato very long to figure out the meaning behind her words. Chuckling and shaking his head, he let her drag him towards her apartment.

Something told him they wouldn't be getting much sleep at all. So much for getting up early.

* * *

"So what did you want to talk to me about? Must be important since you're here this early."

Minato just nodded at his one time sensei, sitting down at the table across from the man, scroll in his hand. He tossed it onto the table in such a way that it slowly rolled towards the man.

Jiraiya moved his arm over and grabbed the scroll, looking at it curiously. "What's this?"

Minato only shook his head and gestured at it. "Something I've been working on. Open it up and take a look. Tell me what you think."

With a curious frown on his face, Jiraiya set the scroll on the table and carefully opened it up. There were several moments of silence, and while Minato noticed Jiraiya's eyes widen when it passed over some of the seal markings, his sensei didn't ask any questions for a while.

"This looks rather interesting. Teleportation... on a greater capacity than Hiraishin. Has some elements to it that reminds me of work I did a long time ago. Did you test it yet?"

"Yes. I was rather... shocked by the results."

Jiraiya nodded. "How far?"

Minato blinked for a second, not expecting his sensei to be quite this calm. "A few miles, nothing that would burn me out too bad."

The man with long white hair and red facial markings looked up at his old student, face completely serious. "No, I mean how far into the past or future did you go?"

Minato was completely still for a moment, before he started babbling incoherently. "Wh... wha? How did... when did..."

Jiraiya let out a booming laugh, and pointed to one particular part of the seal.

"I'd recognize this anywhere. I experimented with it when I was younger. I'm impressed you discovered it on your own, and to top it off, it wasn't even intentional."

Minato was staring at his old sensei, obviously stunned. "So I didn't even need that part?"

Jiraiya merely shook his head as he smiled. "Not one bit of it. But now thanks to it, you have discovered the fun of time travel."

Minato nodded, still stunned and somewhat humbled that Jiraiya was able to identify what part of the experimental seal sent him into the future so quickly.

"Well, I was advised by a man, perhaps fifteen or twenty years into the future, that time travel is something not to be trifled with."

Jiraiya's eyebrows raised for a moment, before he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "It really isn't. It can have dire consequences. Just ask Tsunade-hime about the time she caught me peeping on her. Though she doesn't know I was time traveling when I did it."

Minato winced... he remembered hearing about that story long ago, when he was still a Genin and Jiraiya caught him trying to peep-

"Twenty years, huh? I probably shouldn't ask, but what was it like?"

Losing his train of thought, it was Minato's turn to lean back and cross his arms. "Well, let me see. Konoha has been at peace for nearly a decade, from what I understand."

Jiraiya leaned forward, clearly interested. "Well, that's some good news."

Minato nodded. "I'm dead."

"W-what!?" Jiraiya had a mix between shock and horror all over his features.

"I know. Shocked me too."

"W-well... how? Did you find out?"

The blond shook his head. "Hokage-sama didn't say. But he told me that I had to live at least until the moment I die, so someone else can live."

Minato and Jiraiya both looked at each other, sharing a look of understanding.

"I guess I get to be the first to say congratulations?"

Minato couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Thanks. But I have no idea if the mother ends up being Kushina-chan or not, or when I die in comparison to when the child is born. I don't even know why, or how I die. All I know is the when."

"Really?"

"October tenth, forty-seven."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "That's only five years from now!"

Mintato just sighed as he stared at the floor. "I know. I also supposedly become Hokage in two years."

This just caused the Sannin to blink. "Well, congratulations again."

"You probably shouldn't. It may never happen."

Even though he wasn't looking at the man, Minato knew Jiraiya was glaring at him by the tone in his voice. "You aren't thinking of avoiding what will come, are you?"

"I want to, but I know I can't. If I am supposed to have a child, but I have to die for them to live... then I will." Minato turned his gaze back to his sensei. "If I do die, you'll help my kid, and whoever the mother ends up being, won't you?"

"How do you know I'm still alive?"

Minato sighed. "I don't. But if you are... please?"

It was Jiraiya's turn to look away. "I don't know if that's something I can promise. The future is impossible to predict. Who knows if this conversation we're having now has already changed something?"

Jiraiya's comment brought Minato back to last night and his discussion with Kushina. He was very wary of exactly who he should tell about his time travel experience. The only reason he spoke to his sensei was because of what the Sandaime of the future told him... Jiraiya had already experienced time travel. If there was anyone who would know anything, it was the man sitting across the table from him.

"I need to go back."

Jiraiya's head snapped back up to look at Minato sharply. "What? Why?!"

"I need to know how I died... maybe... maybe I can find a way to prevent it, and still have the person who depends on me still exist. There has to be a way."

The look in Minato's eyes was one of complete seriousness, but Jiraiya frowned and ran his hair back through his long, unkempt hair. "It's going to be incredibly dangerous, you know. There might be some things you just can't change, no matter how much you want to. I learned that the hard way."

"That may be true. But I feel like I have to at least try."

Jiraiya held the younger man's gaze for a moment before he finally nodded.

"Very well. Let me get ready to go out, then I'll show you how to tweak the seal. Something tells me you'll be needing to know how to adjust the seal to control how far you leap into the future. It took me a few tries to get it right when going into the past."

Minato smiled. "Thanks for the help, sensei. I appreciate it."

Jiraiya simply barked out a laugh. "It's the least I can do for the Yondaime Hokage!"

* * *

**A/N:** As you hopefully noticed, Kushina is 19. I stated in the last chapters A/N that Minato is 22. To do what I did with Minato last chapter... in 45 EC when Minato becomes Yondaime, Kushina will be 21. In 47 EC she will give birth to Naruto and flee Konoha due to chronic mental distress under the care of Rin, and she will only be 23. (Read Whirlpool Country, my main fic, for details.) Rin is 16 in 47 EC, Kakashi was 13.

59 EC - start of canon Naruto - Kushina would be 35. (Rin 28, Kakashi 25)

62 EC - start of Naruto Shippuden - Naruto approaching 16, Kushina is 38. (Rin 31, Kakashi 28)


	4. 59 EC, Part II

_**April 22nd, 43 EC**_

"What are you doing up here?"

The soft, pleasant voice knocked Minato from his musings, causing him to turn and look at who it was. It only took a moment for his eyes to focus and rest on the form of his old teammate from bygone days.

"Mikoto! I heard you took your team on their first C rank mission! When did you get back?"

Uchiha Mikoto smirked at her old teammate. "Just this morning. We managed to finish three days early. Hokage-sama said the client issued us a bonus since we got him there so fast and without any problems."

Minato smiled. "Ah, well that will come in handy then if you're still considering having another child."

Mikoto laughed. "True. Itachi has quite the appetite for such a little guy. But Fugaku and I agreed to wait until my team members become chuunin before we have another child."

"That makes sense." Minato looked away, focusing once again on what he was doing before his thoughts drifted. He was looking for a place to put his test seal somewhere in Konoha where it wouldn't be obvious. "So how is Fugaku treating you?"

He heard Mikoto let out a sigh. "Minato-kun, you know I love you like a brother, but you really can stop worrying about me. Fugaku is fine, even if he does have the personality of a stick in the mud. You don't need to be so protective just because our marriage was arranged."

Minato frowned but continued looking around. The dismay was obvious in his voice. "Be that as it may, I still don't approve of arranged marriages."

"Then become Hokage like you keep blathering on about and do something to stop them."

Minato turned his head slightly and gave his childhood friend a big smile. "Count on it."

Laughing again, Uchiha Mikoto watched as Minato stared pensively at the Hokage Monument. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" He turned to look at her once again. "Oh! No, nothing's wrong. I'm just looking for an out of the way place to put a seal I'm testing. Less of a chance of someone random coming along and mucking it up."

Mikoto looked up at the monument and stared at it for a moment, then nodded. "On top of one of the old Hokage's heads is probably a good place. Either there or on top of the entrance gate."

"Good idea, didn't think of that. But the Hokage Monument is probably the best place because generally only shinobi go there."

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah, prob-"

"Mikoto-nee!"

Both Minato and Mikoto turned and smiled upon hearing the boisterous voice. Both sets of eyes settled on a redhead who was waving one arm rapidly in greeting as she jogged up towards them. Minato noticed that his student Rin was following not far behind.

"Kushina-chan! How have you been? It feels like forever since I saw you last!"

Kushina jogged up and caught Mikoto in a big hug, and the slightly older young woman gladly returned it. "It has been a while. A few weeks, at least."

Mikoto pondered that for a moment, then nodded and smiled. "Sounds about right. I've been out of Konoha with my team for a little over a week." The Uchiha gave Rin a nod and smile as the youngest among them got closer. The medic gave a big smile, then ran up and gave Minato a hug, squeaking out a "Hi, sensei!".

Minato couldn't help but chuckle as he returned the greeting. "Hey, squirt."

Rin pushed away from her sensei and pouted as both Mikoto and Kushina tried to stifle their giggles. They all knew the young teen was conscious about her height, but Minato couldn't help but to tease her sometimes.

"Hey, Kushina-chan?"

"Hmmm?" Kushina's gaze quickly snapped to her boyfriend, and she gave him one of her beaming smiles.

"I'm going to try testing that new seal again, I've made some adjustments." Seeing Kushina start to frown, he tried to hurriedly finish what he was saying. "I'm placing the seal within Konoha, probably on the Hokage Monument so no one tampers with it while I'm testing it. I'm also setting the return so that it will pull me back after four hours instead of eight."

Kushina was still frowning slightly, but nodded. Mikoto moved to stand next to the redhead and draped an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, thats fine. It means we can have four uninterrupted hours of girl talk without Minato-kun here being nosy."

Minato grinned good-naturedly. "I'll know you're talking about me if I start sneezing."

"Then you might want to take a box of tissues with you, sensei."

Minato gaped at Rin, who merely gave him a cheeky grin as Kushina and Mikoto burst into laughter. Letting his face fall into a pout, he let his gaze fall on both Kushina and Mikoto, who eventually dissolved into a fit of giggles. Mikoto finally managed to get control of herself and gave Minato a big smile. "Don't worry Minato-kun. We have plenty of girly things to talk about as well."

Chuckling, Minato waved his hand dismissively. "Alright you three, go have fun while I give myself a headache trying to work this thing out."

"Awwww." Kushina moved away from Mikoto, walked up to her boyfriend, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Try to have some fun playing with your seals. If you're all stressed out, who's going to give me a massage later?"

Minato quirked an eyebrow as Kushina's face lit up with an enormous grin. It quickly changed to shock as Mikoto grabbed her hand and started forcefully pulling her away.

"Stop acting like that in front of my old teammate Kushina-chan... you don't want to make a girl jealous, do you?"

"Jealous? He's my boyfriend, Mikoto-nee! You're already married!"

Minato couldn't help but snicker as the girls quickly wandered off down the street into Konoha's market area. Mikoto was still half-dragging Kushina away as Rin quickly gave her sensei a wave and scampered off to follow the other two girls. Shaking his head, the blond looked once again towards the Hokage Monument and set his mind towards the task ahead of him.

* * *

_**July 30th, 59 EC**_

Minato landed in a crouch on top of the Sandaime Hokage's head. He nodded to himself in satisfaction, the landing was much better this time. As for exactly why it was so much easier, he had no idea. Perhaps it was simply because he was prepared this time.

Now that he was certain he was still okay, he looked at his surroundings to verify that he had returned to the same time as before. Looking down and to his left, he noticed the Yondaime's head there... still in his own likeness. Minato let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

A flash of orange caused him to do a double take. Squinting, he noticed a small orange blob on top of his head. Pushing a little chakra into his eyes to focus his eyesight, he was surprised to see the boy from the other day sitting there on top of... his... head. The one who looked strangely like him. Making sure his transformation into Kazama Arashi was in place, he jumped over to the portion of the Monument where the boy was located.

Landing lightly, he was mildly surprised when the boy - it really was Naruto - turned to look at him, eyes wide.

"W-What do you want?!" Naruto scrambled to his feet, backing away towards the edge of the head they were standing on.

Minato's eyes opened wide, he certainly wasn't expecting this reaction. "Whoa! Settle down there Naruto, I just came to say hi."

Naruto stopped moving backwards and squinted his eyes. It was obvious to see that he wasn't very trusting. Minato was both a little confused and a little scared as to why a young boy would treat him this way. "Don't you remember me? We met at Ichiraku Ramen."

The moment he mentioned Ichiraku, Naruto's eyes opened wide. But the boy still wasn't saying anything.

"I said I liked your name a lot, remember?"

That did it. Naruto smiled at him. "Ah! I remember now. Sorry about that, but it's been a few months since I saw you last."

A few months? Minato wasn't sure he tweaked the seal quite that much, but apparently the smallest amount of chakra added to the seal could change the dates by quite a lot. "I'm... sorry about that. Hokage-sama keeps me busy."

Naruto waved off the apology. "It's fine. I'm used to not knowing people for a long time."

Alarm bells were starting to go off in his head now. Just what was so bad about this kid? He seemed perfectly normal, just like anyone else. The only unique characteristic was that the kid had lines on his cheeks, but Minato just chalked that up to there being a new clan in Konoha. It was the future, after all.

"So what brings you up here, Nii-san?"

Minato smiled. "I just wanted to check out the view. I've never been up here. Oh, and you can call me M-err... Arashi, if you want to."

Naruto looked at him warily for a few seconds, but decided to nod and give him a big smile. "You got it, Arashi-san!"

Minato chuckled. That smile nagged at him. It looked just like one he saw... he saw...

Suddenly, it all clicked into place. Not entirely, but he had enough pieces to solve most of the puzzle. "So what brings you up here, Naruto?"

Naruto looked at Minato for a second, then turned his gaze back out to look over Konoha. "I come up here to get away from it all. To think."

"To train your mind?"

Naruto laughed at that, but Minato was unsure as to why. It didn't sound like a happy laugh. "If I told anyone that, they'd start to worry about me. Especially Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan."

Minato almost jumped up in surprise at that, hearing Kakashi's name. Well-trained reflexes allowed him to mask it so it looked like he simply shivered. Kakashi was Naruto's sensei? Minato had a hard time envisioning the lazy Kakashi he knew now as a teacher. Maybe something happened that changed him?

"But Kakashi-sensei is so lazy that he'd probably just give me a funny look and then go back to reading his little book."

Okay, so maybe Kakashi hadn't changed after all.

"What about this Sakura-chan?"

"Oh, she's one of my teammates. Any time I act weird around her she gets worried about me. I want to protect her, so I can't let her be worried about me. So I just stay the way I am."

Minato was frowning. Naruto always had to act? "What about your other teammate?"

That question brought forth a snort from the youth. "Sasuke-teme doesn't care about anything other than getting stronger. He only pays attention to me when I seem stronger than him."

"At least you have Sakura-chan, at least?"

Naruto shook his head sadly. "Sakura-chan only sees Sasuke-teme. I only exist when I'm annoying her."

Minato wasn't sure what to say to that. If his suspicions were correct, he wanted to grab the kid and give him a comforting hug. But Naruto would probably panic if a total stranger hugged him, so he held himself back.

"Have you done anything interesting since we last talked?"

Naruto's eyes sparkled for a moment. "Yeah! We just got back from Wave Country! Our mission was C rank and we had to defend a bridge builder named Tazuna."

"Oh? A genin team getting a C rank? Impressive."

Naruto grinned and placed a hand behind his head. "Yeah, well it turned into an A rank when the missing nin Momochi Zabuza showed up!"

Minato paled. He didn't recognize the name, but shinobi didn't go missing without a good reason. "Well I'm glad to see you're not injured. That must have been scary."

Naruto simply laughed. "Ah, he wasn't so tough! Kakashi sensei took him out easy! I helped take out his partner." Naruto's mood seemed to become somber mid-speech. "They became good guys in the end, though. It was sad that they had to die."

Unsure of how to interpret that, Minato merely nodded. A nukenin turning good? While not unheard of, there must have been some extenuating circumstances.

Before he could say anything else, someone landed next to Naruto. The kid looked like he wanted to scramble away for a moment, but must have recognized who it was, since he immediately settled down and smiled.

Minato merely stood there, looking on with interest. The person had a petite build and long purple hair, and was obviously an ANBU based on her attire. He could see the profile of her face though, so she didn't have her mask on.

"Yuugao-chan! Hey!"

The woman gave a light laugh and rubbed Naruto's head as he grinned back at her. "Hi there, Naruto-kun. I hear from Hokage-sama that you finished an A rank mission?"

Naruto smiled, but then it quickly faded. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

The woman - Yuugao - shook her head and sighed. "I'm not happy, A ranks are a big risk. But it's not your fault that Kakashi let you continue the mission, regardless of its risk."

Now Naruto frowned. "Well, we kind of convinced Kakashi-sensei to let us continue."

The woman snorted. "So I heard. Quite impressive, three genins managing to convince their jounin sensei to do something that he didn't want to do."

Naruto grinned again. "I'm good."

Yuugao burst out into laugher, even Minato couldn't help but smile. After her laughing settled down, she turned to Minato and arched an eyebrow. "So, you must be Kazama-san."

Surprise must have shown on his face, because she grinned. "Hokage-sama told me if I said your name it would surprise you. He asked me to tell you to stop by before you resume your mission."

Minato nodded. So Sarutobi-sama knew he was here. Impressive, since it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. "Very well. I probably shouldn't keep Hokage-sama waiting then." As he turned to leave he looked over his shoulder.

"Naruto."

The young blond was talking to Yuugao about something, but his attention snapped over to Minato when he heard his name. "Yeah?"

"Keep looking up. One day you'll be stronger than the Yondaime, I bet."

Shock was easily visible on Yuugao's face, but it quickly settled into a soft smile as she turned to look at Naruto again.

As for Naruto, he was showing Minato something that both warmed his heart and made a chill run down his spine.

Kushina's smile.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up at the door to his office as there was a small knock on it. "Enter."

The door opened to reveal the nondescript form of Kazama Arashi. The man gently closed the door behind him and moved up to the front of the Hokage's desk.

"You summoned me, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen nodded. "That I did." He gestured to one of the chairs nearby. "Pull up a chair, and drop the disguise."

Minato did ask asked, first dropping the disguise, then he pulled one of the chairs over so it was directly in front of the Hokage's desk, sitting in it.

"I see you decided to ignore my advice. It's been several months. I wasn't expecting to see you again."

Minato sighed. "Where I'm from, it's only been a couple days, actually. I'm still testing the seals."

If the Hokage was surprised, he didn't show it. He sighed instead, leaning back in his chair. "Do you mind explaining why you decided to ignore what I told you?"

The future Yondaime frowned. "I didn't completely ignore it. But from things you've said, and things I've encountered... there are some things that have been puzzling me."

Sarutobi managed to crack a small smile at that. "You were always too curious for your own good."

"Perhaps, but I've been told more than once that I have very good intuition. I can't help but feel something is very, very wrong. Most of it revolves around one person."

The Hokage didn't say anything, but turned in his chair and looked outside. "He's a strong boy."

The statement caught Minato off guard, but he already knew who the Sandaime was talking about. "Sarutobi-sama... is Naruto... who I think he is?"

The current Hokage was quiet for several long moments, before he closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Yes. Naruto is your son."

Minato's fists clenched and released unconsciously. "Kushina is his mother, correct?"

There was another long silence, as if Sarutobi was weighing exactly how much he should tell the man sitting in front of him. "Kushina... is his mother. Yes."

Minato looked away as his jaw locked up. Naruto looked so... so alone. It wasn't hard to see how fake some of the smiles he wore were, and how the boy seemed to simply cling onto anything positive that was said about him. Something was very, very wrong.

"I know that you said I die. But you haven't said what from. Even if I die... I haven't seen Kushina. Is she okay?"

"Minato... I don't-"

"Hokage-sama, please!" Minato almost shouted, but managed to keep his voice just below a yell. Sarutobi looked surprised for a moment at being interrupted, but eventually frowned. He still didn't say anything as he opened up a drawer on his desk, grabbed his pipe out, and prepared it.

"We don't know what happened to Kushina-chan. She is listed as missing, presumed dead. Twelve years ago. The same day you died." Sarutobi lit his pipe and took a few puffs as Minato sat there, gathering his thoughts. "Naruto is an orphan, Minato."

The blond leaned forward, face in his hands. Sarutobi couldn't help but feel pity for the man. This was just the beginning of his torments to boot. He decided to hold off on any further explanations until Minato had recovered.

That didn't happen for several minutes. When he was ready, he looked back up the current Hokage, his face was as white as a sheet and his eyes were but a dull shadow of their old sparkling blue. "H-How?"

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair once again, pipe in his hand as he looked at his both successor and predecessor. "October tenth, twelve, almost thirteen years ago now, the Kyuubi no Yoko attacked Konoha."

"Oh... oh no..."

Sarutobi nodded gravely. "It was horrible. We lost many great shinobi that day, including our Hokage." Sarutobi stared pointedly at Minato, and the blond couldn't help but wince. "The only way you could think to stop it was to seal it into a newborn child, and it just so happened that your son was born barely hours before the Kyuubi reached Konoha. It should have been me to do the sealing, but you were stubborn. Incredibly so. I still think you knew something that no one else did, which is why you wouldn't let anyone else perform the sealing. But to this day, I never figured out what it could be. Perhaps I was looking into things too deeply."

Hiruzen was staring off into space as Minato mulled over what the man had said. The Kyuubi... of all the tailed beasts, why did it have to be the nine-tails that attacked? The strongest of them all? If he sealed it, the only way to seal something with power of that magnitude on such short notice would be to evoke a spirit, most likely the one of death. The Shinigami. So that must have been how he died.

"I assume that means I called on the Death God to seal the Kyuubi?"

Hiruzen, startled from his own musings, could do nothing but stare at Minato. "You figured it out already?"

Minato smiled a little, and shrugged. "It just makes the most sense. If you need that much power on such short notice, the easiest way to get the power is to call on a spirit. The Shinigami is the strongest of them all that we know of, but they all require sacrifices of different magnitudes, which is why they are rarely called upon. The Shinigami requires your soul as payment. I guess there was too little notice for me to find a way around it."

Hiruzen sighed. "That seemed to be the case."

"So... what of Kushina? You said she's missing? She didn't... doesn't... seem like the kind of person to run away or give up."

Sarutobi shook his head. "I believe she was somehow mentally scarred when she saw your body, because she went hysterical. She asked about Naruto, then took off before I could finish telling her your last wishes. After that, I never saw her again. I'm sorry."

Minato's elbows were resting on his knees as he leaned forward, his head hanging. Kushina left? On purpose, or was someone or something else involved? He would never know. Poor Naruto... to be left alone, and not even a day old...

Minato leaned back and rubbed his eyes. This was emotionally taxing, even though it hadn't really happened yet in his timeline. But to know what would happen...

"What about Mikoto? I'm sure she would have tried to care for Naruto?"

Sarutobi looked confused for the briefest of moments, but then a look of knowing settled on his features. "Ah, yes, Uchiha Mikoto. She did care for Naruto for his first two years, and always watched out for him when she could as he got older. The council would not let any of the major clans raise your son because of what he contained, they felt it would give a clan too much power over the others."

Minato stood up so suddenly the chair behind him flipped over. "My son is not a weapon to be used for personal or political gain! He is a boy! A human being!" Minato immediately regretted shouting, the Hokage didn't deserve his ire, and he felt pinpricks of movement in his senses as the ANBU responsible for guarding the Hokage shifted into a ready position.

Immediately looking sheepish, he prepared to apologize, only to stop as he saw the small smile on Hiruzen's face. "You don't know how relieved and happy I am to hear that from your own mouth."

As Minato picked his chair back up and sat down in it, questioning why the Hokage was happy about something that should be obvious to everyone, Sarutobi's look became rather forlorn. "Unfortunately, your son became more of an object than a human being. As much as Mikoto fought - and did she ever fight - the council would not have it. It didn't help that the normally docile Fugaku was fighting for custody of Naruto as well, the man rarely spoke up on most matters, so nearly everyone was wary of letting him have the child. Most of the shinobi wanted to respect your last wishes, to treat Naruto as a hero. However the civilian portion... they have a hard time comprehending the mind of a shinobi. All they could see was a weapon. One that could be used."

Minato had half a mind to go back to his time and castrate the idiots before they could cause problems, but knew deep down that the timeline needed to be preserved. It still wouldn't keep him from secretly regarding them with scorn when it came to be his turn at being Hokage.

"Needless to say, they didn't want any clan getting their hands on your son. Mikoto was allowed to raise Naruto for the first two years of his life. After that he was placed in an orphanage for approximately four years. When he was six, I got him his own little apartment where he has been living ever since."

Minato rubbed his forehead. "He's been living alone since he was six?" The blond wasn't sure if he wanted to be happy for his future son's independence, or sad because the boy was technically on his own.

"I've done what I can as Hokage, but I can't show too much interest in the boy or various influential people will start asking questions. I've placed one of my ANBU squads as a permanent guard on him, though one member of that group took it upon herself to look after Naruto as a big sister figure."

Minato looked up at the Sandaime in surprise, but recognition quickly passed his features. "She was the one you sent to collect me, right? She seemed rather familiar with Naruto."

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, Uzuki Yuugao. She actually tried to adopt the boy, but that was blocked by the civilian council as well. They felt she was too young, and therefore too gullible."

"Nice to see they have so much trust in their protectors." Minato looked to the side and grumbled. Sarutobi chuckled as he took a few puffs from his pipe.

"I'm afraid it will always be that way. Regardless of that, what are you going to do now, since you know?"

Minato paused, he wasn't quite sure how to answer that. There would be repercussions if he tried to change anything. Mostly good ones, he felt, but he didn't want to take away the existence of the current Naruto either. Even if it wasn't the most ideal... far from it, actually... he didn't felt that he had the right to change what had technically already happened.

"Well, now that I know about Kyuubi I can actually prepare for it. But I don't have the right to change what has already happened up to this point." Minato sighed as Sarutobi watched him curiously. "I want to be a part of my son's life, but now I just have to figure out how."

The Hokage continued watching Minato with a knowing stare. "I admire your determination, but I don't see how you can fit into your son's life at this point."

Something the Hokage said clicked in Minato's mind. "At... at this point..." His eyes lit up. "That's it!"

Sarutobi sat up straighter, surprised. "What? Did you figure something out?"

Minato stood up as he nodded and started pacing. "I don't want to mess things up the way they are now. Even if I were to somehow miraculously reappear tomorrow, that would probably throw Konoha into chaos, correct?"

Though he was planning on continuing even if the Hokage didn't agree with his statement, he waited to see a small nod from Sarutobi before continuing. "That just means I'll have to find a time in Konoha where I can reinsert myself, when my return won't spark any kind of controversy or raise too many questions. I want to be there for my son at any point..." Minato trailed off, eyes closed, "... even if it isn't until he's going to die. I want to be there."

Sarutobi was trying to be happy for the man in front of him, but some things weren't adding up. "But how... if the Shinigami takes your soul, I don't see how you could come back."

Minato shook his head. "I have enough time to prepare now, I won't need to use the Shinigami. But I'll still technically have to die to keep the timeline the way it is." Minato paused in his pacing and rubbed his chin. "I'll figure something out. I have a few ideas but it's going to take some testing."

The Hokage sighed and rubbed at his forehead. Minato had started pacing again, wandering back and forth in front of the desk. Sarutobi watched the young man for a minute before solidifying his own convictions and clearing his throat to grab Minato's attention.

"I do believe that you can pull this off, so I'm going to help you." Minato's eyes lit up and it looked like he was going to toss a million questions in his direction, so the Sandaime held a hand up to stop any comments before they started. "Mind you, I still don't agree with time travel, but if anyone deserves a chance at happiness, it is Naruto." Minato withdrew into himself at that comment, and clearly looked chagrined, even if he hadn't technically sealed the Kyuubi yet. His alternate... past... future... other self had done it.

Hiruzen grabbed something from inside a drawer in his desk, and tossed it to the blond, who caught it easily. He brought the small piece of wood up to his face, inspecting it curiously. Flipping it over, there was something written on it.

"That's a pass to allow you access to the Hokage Archives. Do some research before you go back."

Minato shot the Sandaime a big grin, then promptly reactivated his disguise and scrambled from the room.

Sarutobi sighed as he watched Minato leave, then couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Looking at the crystal ball off to the side of his desk, he reached for it and settled it down in front of him. Activating it, he watched as Uzuki Yuugao dragged a pouting Naruto shopping. A grin appeared on the Hokage's face.

"Some day, Naruto. Some day, the family that was taken from you will return."

* * *

**A/N:** As I'm sure many of you have noticed, this fic is a companion fic to my other long running work, Whirlpool Country. You can still read this alone and enjoy it, but some things may be understood a little better if you were to read Whirlpool Country. I won't force anyone to read it if they don't want to... *hums* This fic revolves around Minato with snippets of Naruto and others (NaruSaku soon) and can be read as a standalone fic. It's just much better if it's read in tandem with WPC. *shrug*

Age time again...

Mikoto is 23 in 43 EC. In 59 EC, she would have been 39. In Naruto Shippuuden, (62 EC) she would have been 42.  
Yuugao is 22 when we see her in 59 EC. She was only 6 in 43 EC, and is now 25 in Shippuuden (62 EC, when my other fic WPC takes place).


	5. 102 EC

_**April 28th, 43 EC**_

"Hey, you're up early."

Minato looked at the entrance to the small kitchen in his apartment. Kushina was standing there, her hair all tousled and looking half asleep. The redhead yawned sleepily and stretched, making the bottom of the overly large t-shirt rise up from just above her knees to the top of her thighs, almost giving Minato quite the view.

Looking away, he resumed staring blankly out the window, the warm cup of tea he made earlier still sitting comfortably in his hand.

"Yeah, I've had a lot on my mind. I wasn't able to sleep good last night."

He heard Kushina chuckle and move up behind him. She didn't touch him, but leaned over close to his ear, whispering into it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't tire you out enough last night?"

Minato couldn't help but chuckle as well before taking another sip of his tea. "Oh no, I was physically exhausted. But my mind was still going a mile a minute all night long."

Kushina rubbed her hand in his hair as she padded around him and headed towards the teakettle. "Well, you've got me there. I don't know how to mentally exhaust you."

A wry grin slipped onto Minato's face. "If you could mentally exhaust me, then it's pointless for me to continue my attempts at being Hokage."

Kushina didn't say anything, so they were both silent as she poured herself some tea. Once she had done so, she pulled out a chair and sat down across from him at the small table.

"How is that going, by the way? You've been quiet about that lately, and Tsunade-sama won't tell me anything either."

Minato quirked an eyebrow. "That's probably because she doesn't know. The selection process is very exclusive. Only six votes determine who gets to be Hokage if more than one person is nominated, and all deliberations are done in secret. Of course rumors leak out, but no one will know the truth until the successor is announced by Sandaime-sama."

"How long are the deliberations going to last?"

"It's anyone's guess." Minato killed off the rest of the tea in his cup and stood up to go get more. "I'd like to think I already got the vote from the Uchiha, but the Hyuuga's vote is up in the air. I think I'm on rather good terms with the Yamanaka, so I might have their vote. I'm not sure who the other two clans are that get to vote, Jiraiya-sensei could only confirm those three."

He sighed as he sat back down once again. "The civilian council gets one vote as a whole, so their vote will probably take the longest to decide."

Kushina snorted as Minato finished talking. "I can't believe Konoha allows the civilian council to vote on who the Hokage is. They never allowed that in Whirlpool."

The blond knew where his girlfriend was coming from, and agreed with her in part. Shinobi were present as a military force, and protected civilians. But they really shouldn't have any say in who would be leading the military. After all, it wasn't them that the Hokage would be leading. He was just supposed to watch over and protect them, that was all.

He merely shrugged. "I think Senju-sama wanted the civilians to have a voice as to who their protector was, even if it is a small one. That's quite possibly one of the reasons Konoha flourishes while many other hidden villages suffer from stagnation for a short while when a new leader comes to power. Look at Rain, they are a prime example."

Kushina nodded, and went back to sipping on her tea without making further comments. Minato leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, as he returned to contemplation about his time traveling. He didn't get to think about it much, however, as his thoughts were once again quickly interrupted.

"So... do you have any plans today?"

Minato paused for a moment, asking himself the same question. He had plans to tweak the seal a little more, but other than that, nothing.

"I was thinking about messing around with that seal a little more... but I can hold off on that if you wanted to do something."

Kushina bit her lower lip and watched him for a moment before answering. Her stare was starting to make him sweat a little, until she spoke up, "Is this seal you're working on really supposed to be that good? You've been working on it a lot lately... almost as much as you worked on Hiraishin."

Once again, Minato found himself in a bit of a dilemma. He desperately wanted to tell her the truth about what he was doing... but telling her could have unforeseen consequences, and could throw the plans he had been working on into total jeopardy. So far the only person who knew, and would probably ever know, was Jiraiya.

"Well, it's supposed to allow instantaneous transfer to anywhere I leave a destination seal, much like Hiraishin does. However, in order for me to use Hiraishin properly, the seal needs to be activated by a spike of kinetic energy; by comparison, this technique will just be two linked seals. So I could travel from Point A to Point B and back, as many times as I need to. Unfortunately, as the distance between the two seals grows, so does the chakra it uses - exponentially. I'm trying to find a way to cut back on chakra usage so it's usable by more shinobi, but it's taking a lot of testing."

Everything he just told her about the seal was absolutely true, it did allow that type of travel and it did burn chakra at an incredible rate. He also had several ideas as to how to cut back its chakra consumption, but was holding off on that until he finished his time travels. So while he told her the truth... it wasn't the whole truth. Nevertheless, he still felt guilty.

Kushina just blinked at him owlishly, nodding her head. She never was good at paying attention to his long speeches about anything regarding fuuinjutsu, she just didn't have the patience for it, though she did like listening to him talk for some reason. Her particular forte was ninjutsu, and a smattering of genjutsu. "So how much longer is it going to take you to fix it? You're smart, right?"

Minato pursed his lips. "No more than a month, I hope. Maybe less if I can get advice from Jiraiya-sensei if he isn't too busy." If he really concentrated on it, exclusively, he knew he could get it done in two weeks. But that would cause him to shirk his other duties. A month was a safe amount of time for an estimate.

His girlfriend got up out of her chair, and wandered over to the sink. "Lets go get breakfast, then you can stare at those funny designs for a few hours. Then... let's go nag Mikoto-nee for a little bit. How about it?" She turned around, giving him a big smile.

Minato shrugged, returning the grin. "Sounds like a plan."

She leaned over to kiss his cheek as she scampered past. "I'm going to go get dressed, I'll be ready in five minutes!"

The blond couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he headed over to his sink to wash their cups. He needed to find some time to take a few missions or else he was going to have to start digging through his couch for spare change.

* * *

_**July 6th, 102 EC**_

Minato landed in his typical target spot, on top of the Third's head. Once again, he checked to make sure his disguise as Kazama Arashi was firmly in place before doing anything else. That done, he looked up...

This wasn't Konoha.

Or... it was, but it wasn't. Looking at the monument, he realized that he was definitely standing on top of his own head. There were three others to his right... but there was another one to his left. That one wasn't there the last time he visited. That could only mean he was even further into the future than the last time he appeared.

Dropping his transformation, he gave himself a new disguise. He kept the features of his Arashi getup, but changed his clothing from that of a standard Konoha Jounin to a regular civilian. He was treading into uncertain waters once again, but at least this time he couldn't be cornered and sent before the Hokage. There was a chance he had no idea who the person could possibly be.

Patting himself down, he once again looked out over Konoha. At least he thought it was Konoha... it looked nothing like the one he knew, or even the one he visited twelve years into his future. There was a large circular building that was settled above a lake, being supported by huge... trees. They were bent at odd angles, it almost looked as though they were grown that way on purpose around the lake for the purpose of supporting the building they were currently holding up. That could only mean there was another mokuton user in Konoha, even though they were told the Shodai Hokage was the last one.

The other buildings were constructed in a circular pattern around the lake in the middle, and it looked like a decent stretch of land around the lake was used as a sort of market area - he could make out a multitude of colors from market stalls all the way up where he was. Looking further out, he noticed that there were no longer any walls, which meant there were no entrance gates. It didn't seem like the village could really call itself hidden anymore.

After carefully working his way down from the monument, Minato started walking down one of the alleys that lead toward the building over the lake. If he wanted any information, that looked like the place to go. Glancing up into the sky, he confirmed that the time of day had not changed from when he departed his present time, which placed him here in the early morning. There were very few people on the paths right now, but occasionally he would pass a person. Everyone seemed to be in relatively good spirits, many talking animatedly to each other if they were in groups, but none were talking loud enough so that he could hear any distinct conversations.

As he arrived in the market area that was filled with various stalls of merchants peddling their wares, he turned around and looked up at the monument behind him. He saw his face and smiled... it meant even though he had put some of his plans in motion, he would still be Hokage. Looking at the new face next to his, however, caused him to frown. The face definitely seemed female, and even reminded him of Tsunade-sama a little. But weather had done its work on the monument, apparently, and for some reason no efforts had been put into place to restore it.

Shaking his head, Minato walked through the market area, passing many merchants who were beginning to set up shop. A few of them nodded at him, to which he returned the gesture. None of the currently open shops had anything that interested him, so he continued walking towards the central building. As he approached, he noticed that the trees holding up the building in the center of the lake were even larger up close. There were large branches - large enough to be trees themselves - that broke off from the main trunk and were full of leaves. Along the center of the curving trunk was a long staircase that lead up to the platform the building was constructed on.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a little stand that appeared to hold some pamphlets. Grabbing one, Minato started walking up the long stretch of stairs to the building. Glancing at the pamphlet as he walked, he opened it up to reveal a layout plan of the building in front of him. Apparently the lower level had a large museum that contained the history of Konoha. The rest of the lower level was used as meeting and council chambers. The middle levels of the building were used for administrative duties, while the upper levels were reserved for the Hokage and military personnel.

Minato scoured the pamphlet for all the information he could during his five minute trek up the stairs. Apparently, the set of stairs he took deposited him right at the entrance to the museum, which was going to be the first stop on his trip anyway. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The first thing that caught his eye was the sakura tree in full bloom. There was some kind of air circulation in the building, because many of the branches were swaying, though amazingly none of the petals were falling. He moved up to it and looked for any kind of plaque or display that would explain the purpose of the tree. Finding none, he backed up and looked at the tree one more time. Feeling slightly disappointed, he turned and moved on to the next displays.

Many of them had items in them that he had already seen or known about. A grin put itself on his face when he saw a glass case containing one of his triple-pronged kunai, though the ever familiar seal he placed on his was not present on this one. Reading the inscription, he was surprised to see that Naruto had used this exact kunai on his Gauntlet test run to become a jounin. Even though he didn't officially know his son yet, his chest swelled with pride.

Moving further along while checking various displays as he went, a sign caught his eye. It pointed in the direction of a room off to the side, called 'The Fire's Shadow'. Curiosity getting the better of him, Minato moved in that direction, only to squint as his eyes adjusted to the light.

One side of the room was completely glass, letting the morning sun shine brightly through that side of the room. In the middle, there was a row of statues, the first of which Minato was able to immediately recognize. The artists did an incredible job with these statues, they were completely lifelike. Each statue was in an enclosed area, roped off so that people couldn't get too close, but each one appeared to have a plaque displayed on a stand nearby. The first one was obvious, the statue was a man sitting on a tree branch.

Senju Hashirama  
Shodai Hokage  
1 EC - 2 EC  
"Founder of Konoha, and inspiration to everyone with the Will of Fire."

Smiling, Minato moved over to the next statue. It was rather simple in design, the white haired man was standing in what looked to be a puddle of water, his feet and the lower part of his shin were not visible.

Senju Tobirama  
Nidaime Hokage  
2 EC - 3 EC  
"Helped keep our village strong with the creation of the Konoha Military Police."

Minato nodded to himself as he moved onto the third statue. He thought it was a shame that those two men were taken from Konoha in their prime, they died to protect the village they had fought so hard to create. After forming a tenuous peace with the Uchiha clan, they had helped to form Konoha, only to get dragged into yet another war with nations copying off their format of a hidden village, and wanting to gain more land and see who was strongest. As he approached the next statue, he couldn't help but chuckle. A young Sarutobi was displayed leaning against a brick wall with his arms crossed, Enma was transformed into a staff next to him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen  
Sandaime Hokage  
3 EC - 45 EC, 47 EC - 59 EC  
"The longest serving Hokage ever, known as 'The Professor' throughout the world."

With no small amount of shock, Minato realized that the date he visited the old man matched the last year he was Hokage for. Even if he was getting up there age-wise, he looked perfectly healthy when Minato saw him last. Something must have happened. A small part of him was fretting that his visit caused something to happen to the man. Shaking his head to clear his mind of the poisonous thoughts, he moved over towards his own statue, curious as to what the plaque had to say. The statue of himself did look just like him, if perhaps a little older than he was now. He was standing with his arms crossed, and was wearing a cloak with a unique design of flames on the bottom that he had never seen before. It was billowing out behind him, and Minato had to admit it looked rather impressive. He was standing on something that resembled a toad's skin, so he assumed it was Gamabunta, as the coloring was similar.

Namikaze Minato  
Yondaime Hokage  
45 EC - 47 EC  
"The prodigy Hokage nicknamed 'Yellow Flash', he was denied a longer stay in office because of nature itself. Was willing to give his life for the village he loved, defending it from a controlled Kyuubi no Youko."

Minato frowned and moved down the line. His plaque was definitely going to be different than that... he just had to figure out how. He had some ideas, certainly, but many of them he would have to run past his sensei to see if they were even practical. Thinking about the fact that the plaque claimed the Kyuubi was controlled meant someone was behind this. Saving further contemplation about that new fact for later, he approached the next statue, and his eyes opened wide in no small amount of surprise. From the way she talked about the position lately, he sincerely doubted that he would have ever seen her in his shoes. She was standing with her hands on her hips, looking out a window that had a cityscape from a Konoha of the past painted onto it.

Senju Tsunade  
Godaime Hokage  
59 EC - 64 EC  
"One of the Legendary Three, and medic of worldwide renown. Oversaw reconstruction of Konoha after its apparent destruction."

So Konoha was destroyed? That explained why he didn't recognize the current layout of the buildings. It didn't keep the people here down, though, since when he was up on the monument the buildings stretched out further than they ever did when Konoha was surrounded by a wall. As he moved to the next statue, he let out a chuckle before he even read the plaque. He just knew it would be an interesting one. The man was crouched down and had a rather bored look on the portion of his face that was uncovered, while holding a pink book in his hand. The book had no writing on the cover, but Minato did feel it was an interesting color for the cover of a book.

Hatake Kakashi  
Rokudaime Hokage  
64 EC - 66 EC  
"Self-proclaimed laziest Hokage ever, was nevertheless respected for his formidable abilities on the battlefield."

Minato could only smirk as he imagined Kakashi sitting behind a desk looking bored out of his mind. The Kakashi he knew had no desire whatsoever to be Hokage, so he was probably conned into the position. As he walked over to the next statue, his smirk transformed into a full-blown smile. This was the one he was looking for. There was a man who looked just like him with a few of his mother's features sitting in a chair, with a fox that had nine tails resting at his feet with its eyes closed.

Namikaze Naruto  
Nanadaime Hokage  
66 EC - 77 EC  
"Child of Prophecy, Toad Sage, and Savior of the world as we know it."

Even though he had never met his son in any official capacity where Naruto knew who he was, he couldn't help but feel proud of his heir. The little boy he had just met a few days ago - when comparing it to his current time - would go on to become one of the greatest Shinobi the world had ever seen. It was with some curiosity that he noted Naruto's new last name, and Minato was curious as to what may have triggered the change. Putting that thought out of his mind, he moved down the line, to see that there were another two statues yet to go. The first one was another young man whose features reminded him of Sarutobi for some reason, and when he got close enough to read the plaque he realized why.

Sarutobi Konohamaru  
Hachidaime Hokage  
77 EC - 82 EC  
"The only fight he ever lost was the one to the disease that took his life."

The young man was standing with his arms crossed and a big grin on his face. He had goggles on his forehead, causing his slightly long hair to spike up like Kakashi's did. On the back of his head there was a thin, uncut ponytail that had beads running through it, which stopped at the middle of his back. He was also wearing a large scarf, which when coupled with the big grin, folded arms, and goggles... gave him a roguish, if silly look. The only thing Minato recognized about him was his name, however... so he moved on to the next one. As he got closer to it, he realized it was another female. She had long, midnight black hair that was pulled back into a simple braid, and was dressed in a form of battle attire that resembled ANBU gear, with minor differences. The biggest shock, however, was when Minato noticed her eyes.

Hyuuga Hanabi  
Kyuudaime Hokage  
82 EC -

She had no quote on her plaque, but then she didn't have a date to mark the end of her reign either. So she was the current Hokage. Things must have changed a lot after all these years for the councils to allow a Hyuuga to be Hokage. The Uchiha must have been throwing a fit... that is, if those particular clans and the councils even still existed. This far into the future, there was no way for him-

"I still think they got my nose wrong."

Startled from his musings, Minato stumbled back a step, and whirled to face the direction the voice had come from. It was her, Hyuuga Hanabi, and she was giving him a small smile. Even if she looked quite a bit older than the age her statue represented her with, there was no mistaking the overall similarities.

"I... think it looks alright, Hokage-sama. It does you justice." Minato gave her a slight bow, and he quickly noticed that she was squinting at him a little. This could get tricky. Her Byakugan was not activated, but if she decided to...

"May I ask why you are transformed? I don't need the Byakugan to see through a transformation anymore."

Her voice was kind, but serious. Minato figured the best bet was to be completely honest with her. If he changed anything in the past, this scene may not happen anyway. "You might find this hard to believe, Hokage-sama, but I'm actually from the past. I managed to get here quite by accident."

Hanabi raised an elegant eyebrow, but did not comment any further, as if she was evaluating him. Finally, she nodded. "Drop it."

Sighing, Minato did as he was asked, and dispelled his transformation. After having done so, he fully expected her to show some kind of expression of shock. However, he was disappointed as she merely smirked at him.

"So, Naruto-sensei was right. It's... interesting... to meet you, Yondaime-sama."

Minato blinked. Apparently, this woman in front of him had Naruto for a teacher at some point, if what she said was any indication. That meant that Naruto knew some of his techniques... which could also mean...

"Naruto knows about me and my ability to time travel?"

Hanabi simply shrugged. "Something like that. He remarked that his father was very experienced in all kinds of seals, and something like time travel probably wasn't out of the question. I think he knew, deep down... but he would never comment too deeply on the matter. I never pressed him on it either, I learned early on once I became his apprentice that if he didn't want something known, he was a master at changing the subject."

Minato couldn't help but feel pride for the son he didn't even have yet. He also got the impression Hanabi wasn't telling him everything she knew, but it was only right of her to be suspicious of him. If he were in her shoes, he would be acting the same way. Skeptical and not completely trusting. "Is there any way you can tell me where he is now?"

Hanabi shook her head. "He's currently in Wind Country, vacationing with his family. They go there once a year, and you just happened to show up here during that week." She looked as if she was about to say more, but her eyes narrowed and she waved at Minato.

"Quickly, put your disguise back on. Someone is coming, and I'd rather not have to explain this."

Minato complied immediately, not wanting to have to explain his presence to anyone else. No sooner had he done it, the person Hanabi had sensed appeared at the entrance to the room, walking swiftly. At first, Minato didn't give the person a second glance, but his eyes took in a couple unique features that quickly captured his full attention. Initially, the blond hair was the first catch, and the fact that as she got closer it was easier to distinguish that the person was female. There weren't many people with blond hair who lived in Konoha even in his time. It was a rare sight, though perhaps it had changed between his time and now. Her hair wasn't very long, but it was in a single ponytail that was tied up rather high on the back of her head.

The second thing was the young lady's eyes. They were a crystal blue, much like his own. The biggest draw, however, was the three lines that were stretching horizontally across her cheeks. It almost instantly affirmed who the girl was, or at least who she was related to.

"Hanabi-shishou, you told me you'd be in your office. I've been looking all over for you."

Hanabi blinked, then sheepishly rubbed at the back of her head. "Oh, I did, didn't I? Sorry about that, Etsuko. I've been distracted as of late."

The woman - Etsuko, apparently - merely gave her sensei an exasperated look, then faced Minato for the first time. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you two. Are you touring the museum?"

Minato didn't know what else to say, so he nodded and came up with something on the fly. "Ah... yes. I'm here with my family from the Wind Country, I was just checking out the display of your land's Hokages. I'm Kazama Arashi... nice to meet you."

Etsuko gave him a gentle smile. "I'm Namikaze Etsuko, Hokage-in-training. I believe you've already met my shishou, Hyuuga Hanabi-sama. Speaking of Wind Country..." She turned to face Hanabi again. "If you're going to lead me on wild goose chases just to find you and waste time, you could have let me go to Wind Country with the rest of my family on vacation." Even though she had a sour look on her face and her body language spoke of agitation, the tone of her voice was light enough to tell that she wasn't being serious.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry Etsuko. It won't happen again. Tell you what, I'll meet you in my office in a few minutes, then I'll treat you to lunch as an apology."

"Ramen?"

Hanabi sighed. "Of all the things you had to inherit from your father... fine. We'll get ramen."

The young woman gave the Hokage a big grin, then quickly bowed to both of them and disappeared before Minato could blink. "So was... Etsuko...?"

Hanabi nodded, even though he didn't finish the question, she evidently knew what was on his mind. "That was your granddaughter. She is a carbon copy of her father, other than the fact that she is female. Loud, proud, and amazing with both ninjutsu and fuuinjutsu." Hanabi sighed as the two of them walked back down towards the exit of the room, slowly looking at all the previous Hokage's as they walked by. "I think it's true what they've said, the title of Hokage, for the most part, seems to pass from teacher to student."

To Minato's pleasant surprise, Hanabi was very accurate in her assessment. There were a few small gaps, but they were understandable. He didn't know anything about Konohamaru, or even the current Hokage in front of him... but he still had time to do some exploring. "So... who is Etsuko's mother?"

Hanabi turned and gave Minato a small grin. "Haruno Sakura."

The name sounded familiar, and Minato was trying to place it. Then it clicked when he recalled his last visit to Naruto's past. "Ah, Sakura-chan. Good for Naruto."

He heard a small chuckle from Hanabi, who was now looking out the window as they continued their slow walk to the exit. "Sakura-chan... I haven't heard anyone call her that in a long time. You really are from the past."

Unsure of how to respond to that, Minato merely kept silent, looking at his own statue as they walked past. He was contemplating what to do next when Hanabi decided to answer that question for him.

"I don't know how long you plan to be here, but the library is right above us, if you're interested. If you could make Naruto-sensei's life any better when he was growing up, I'd appreciate it."

Minato was torn. He wanted to, but to change things from the way they were... that was a lot to place on one man's shoulders. "I... will look into it. But I don't know if I can change anything without causing more problems by fixing current ones."

Hanabi's shoulders seemed to slouch ever so slightly, but she nodded her head. She still wouldn't look at him, though. "I understand. Still, if you can do anything, it would be appreciated."

Though it was hard to tell from her voice, it almost sounded as though... "Do you... care about Naruto? That much?"

Hanabi looked at him, eyes wide, then after a second she started to chuckle. "I'm not certain what you're trying to imply, but I'm happily married with three children of my own."

It was Minato's turn to be embarrassed, and he rapidly waved his hands back and forth. "N-No! I didn't mean that... ugh, I'm sorry. I just meant... well..."

Hanabi laughed at Minato's struggle to find words, causing him to shut his mouth. When she looked at him again, she had a big smile on her face. "Sorry, I know what you meant. Of course I care about Naruto-sensei. He was the first to respect me for who I was, not just because I was a Hyuuga. He was the first person to give me a chance to actually be something, not just another person with the Hyuuga name. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today, nor would my predecessor, Konohamaru, ever have been. I owe him more than I can ever repay. That's why if you could do anything... anything at all to make his childhood of loneliness be a little less lonely... I'd appreciate it. I'm sure he would too, not that he'll ever know."

Minato stared at Hanabi for several moments, not doubting the sincerity of her words. He was amazed that his son could have quite an impact on the woman standing in front of him, and once again found himself to be a proud father, even if he had no say in Naruto's upbringing. If meeting Etsuko was any indication, he had reasons to be a proud grandfather as well.

With a sigh, he nodded at the current Hokage. "I will do my best. I can't promise it, but that doesn't mean I won't try."

Hanabi gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Yondaime-sama."

It still felt awkward being called that, considering in his time he wasn't even the Yondaime yet, but he would be eventually so he didn't bother correcting her. He merely nodded and smiled as she excused herself.

Rubbing his forehead as he looked around, he saw the sign that pointed towards the library. With a renewed focus, Minato's steps gradually took him closer to the book repository, the one place where he might get a few clues for defeating Kyuubi a different way.

One that wouldn't claim his life.

* * *

Hyuuga Hanabi was walking down the hallway to her office, a small smile still on her face. If only Naruto and his family was here. It would have been hilarious to watch Minato meet himself.

* * *

**A/N: Age time!**

In 102 EC, Naruto and Sakura are 55 years old. Naruto became Hokage at age 19 and retired when he was 30. Konohamaru was made Hokage when he was 27, he died from an incurable disease when he was 32. Hanabi took over as Hokage at the age of 32, and is still Hokage now at 52, though she is up for retirement.

Namikaze Etsuko is Naruto and Sakura's eldest child, she was born in 68 EC, when Naruto and Sakura were 21. Etsuko is currently 34 and training to be the next Hokage.

Hanabi's presence here is a spoiler for my other fic, WPC. Think of it as a present for those of you who read both of my stories. Other than that, I couldn't give away too many other details for fear of spoiling too many other things in WPC.

Also, a big thank you to by beta, Denim88, as well as all of those who review my stories, be it critiques or otherwise. I don't always get a chance to reply, but all reviews are appreciated nonetheless. So again, thank you.


	6. 62 EC

_**May 1st, 43 EC**_

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but Namikaze Minato is here. He apologizes but requests that you grant him an audience, even though it is short notice."

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his desk at his secretary, who was looking back at him with a pensive face. She appeared to be slightly agitated, which was unusual for her, so he told her to send Minato in. The blond was of the responsible sort, so for him to be here on such short notice... it was likely for an important reason.

He watched with concealed curiosity as a rather agitated looking young man stepped into his office, quickly closing the door behind him. He stepped up in front of the desk, bowing briskly, waiting for the Hokage to acknowledge him. It was considered to be polite behavior to let the Hokage talk first, and Hiruzen took a moment to appreciate Minato's restraint, no matter how agitated he looked. The Hokage leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his lap.

"What can I do for you, Minato-kun?"

"Ah, yes... I realize this may sound unusual, but I need you to assign me a mission. A fake mission. Please."

Sarutobi took a moment and just stared at the man, observing his posture. He didn't seem rushed, but he was definitely fidgeting. That would signify some sort of unease. But for the life of him, he couldn't recall any moment where he had ever seen Minato uneasy about anything. The blond standing in front of him typically always exuded some kind of cool confidence, hence why he was even under consideration to be Hokage.

The Hokage gestured with one of his hands. "Explain. I need more details."

Minato sagged, though Hiruzen wasn't sure if it was with relief or some other emotion. Perhaps the young man was simply glad that he wasn't immediately turned away.

"I think it would be best if I started from the beginning." Minato proceeded to explain the unexpected result of his experimentation with the advanced Hiraishin, and went into detail as much as he could without spoiling too much of what would happen. Sarutobi listened carefully, smiling when Minato mentioned meeting him approximately fifteen years in the future.

"Well, it is nice to know that I have at least another fifteen years left. Though I would have to imagine something happened if I'm still Hokage at that time in the future."

Minato opened and closed his mouth a few times, before settling for an apologetic bow. "I can't say, not without potentially ruining things. I hope you understand."

Sarutobi laughed. "Oh, I do. As curious as I am, I'd rather not tempt fate. Knowing I have at least another fifteen years is enough for me. Of course I'd like to know more, it's only natural. But I won't push it, and I appreciate your discretion with this matter. So now... what exactly do you need this mission for? You seemed to be doing fine with this in your own free time."

Nodding, the blond ran a hand back through his hair, causing it to spike up higher than normal for a moment before it settled back down into place. "I need an excuse, more than anything else. Kushina has been asking more questions, trying to help me finish my work, because I told her I'm still working on the advanced Hiraishin. I don't want to lie to her, but I can't let her know about time travel. She'd want to go back and change what happened with Whirlpool. While I don't blame her for that, I don't want to mess things up. Anything changed could potentially harm the peaceful future I witnessed."

"If the future is so peaceful, then why do you have the need to go gallivanting about through it? Why not just wait for it to arrive if you know it will?"

"Because I know that I die before I get to witness it."

Hiruzen leaned forward quickly. "What? How?!"

Minato opened his mouth, but then immediately shut it and frowned, looking miserable. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you. Just know that for that peace to happen, I have to die."

Finding himself frowning as well, Sarutobi carefully examined the man in front of him. He seemed to have accepted the fact that he was going to die, or perhaps he had just already had a decent amount of time to accept it since he started time traveling. "So then what is your purpose for the continued time travel?"

"I want to witness moments my son's life."

"Oh? You have a boy? Is Kushina the mother?"

"Yes. But I'm not there, and from what I understand, he spends his entire childhood as an orphan. I want to visit specific parts of his past, and my future, to find out what happened during that time period. Then, if possible... maybe I can find a way to be alive without totally screwing up the time line. But I wouldn't come back until sometime after they achieve peace, so as to not mess things up for everyone."

Sighing, Hiruzen leaned back in his chair once more. Rubbing at his forehead, he started glancing about the papers on his desk, looking for a blank mission scroll. "I'll trust in your judgment, hopefully you can find what you are looking for. What kind of mission are you going to need, and how long should the duration be?"

"A recon mission should work. Something like a B Rank, so it doesn't seem too suspicious. A week should be enough. I promise I'll be back before ten days."

"What about pay?"

Minato's face scrunched up. "Pay? I'm requesting this mission and performing it. It wouldn't make sense to get paid."

The Sandaime shook his head. "The happiness of you and your family is in my best interests. I'll give you standard minimum B Rank mission pay, and a bonus if you manage to accomplish your task. Does that sound fair?"

Minato bowed sharply. "More than fair, Sandaime-sama. I wasn't even going to ask."

Hiruzen laughed. "Sometimes, my boy, you're too humble for your own good. Before you leave, go tell Kushina-chan, and I guess even Mikoto-chan now, so they don't tear down the village looking for you like Kushina-chan did the last time you disappeared."

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that." Minato rubbed the back of his head and laughed lightly, causing the Sandaime to roll his eyes and shoo Minato towards the door.

"I'm eager to hear your results."

Minato stopped at the door, but looked over his shoulder, eyes wide, only for the expression to gradually change into a small smile. He turned around to face the Sandaime once again, giving the man a deep bow. "This is about my family, so I refuse to fail." Turning to the door again, he spoke over his shoulder. "Oh, you've got a naughty magazine sticking out from the pile to your left, by the way. You might want to move it in case you have any other visitors."

Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed.

* * *

_**July 30th, 62 EC**_

Kazama Arashi looked up at the clouds in the sky as he left the check-in booth near the gate. Tsunade's face was up on the mountain, so he had a general idea of what time period he was in before he arrived at the booth. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Sarutobi had placed him on 'open' status since the last time he visited him in the future. That was one of the most trusted positions any shinobi could hold. Even in his time there were only three shinobi of the Leaf who had that status, and they were the Densetsu no Sannin. Glancing at the mountain again, and seeing his face up there, caused a small grin of embarrassment to cross his face. Considering that he was a Hokage at one point, it only made sense.

Walking around, he headed in the direction of Ichiraku Ramen. That would be the best place to start looking for his son. If he couldn't find him there, it was to the top of the Hokage Monument. If not there then... he had no idea. Perhaps wandering around and asking random people would help, or even trying to track down a member of ANBU. He wanted to avoid asking the Hokage if at all possible; as much as he respected Tsunade-sama, she did not have a shred of patience that the Sandaime was known for. He'd only go to her as an absolute last resort.

Luck was with him, however, as he caught a glimpse of orange and gold in his peripheral vision as he walked through an intersection. That combination of colors was not an easy one to miss, apparently. It was a couple years in Naruto's future since he saw his son last, so part of him hoped that Naruto would have altered his wardrobe accordingly. The fascination of his with that color might not be a very good one to hold onto into the future. As he walked closer, he saw that Naruto was sitting by himself on a bench, idly looking across the street at what seemed to be an apartment complex. The boy had a backpack resting at his feet, which most likely meant that he was getting ready to go on a mission soon.

"Hey there, Naruto. Remember me?"

Minato waved at Naruto while under his Kazama disguise, and Naruto abruptly turned his head to see who was talking to him. The teenager's eyes opened wide for a second, before he smiled in what Minato assumed was recognition. However, the boy's mouth opened and closed several times until he frowned.

"Your name... wasn't it like... Arararagi or something like that?"

Minato couldn't help but roll his eyes and smirk. "Close. Arashi. Kazama Arashi."

Naruto looked away, rubbing under his nose with a finger. "Arashi, right. Sorry, I think I stuttered when I guessed before."

Shaking his head but chuckling nonetheless, Minato sat down next to Naruto on the other end of the bench. If Naruto noticed or cared at all, he didn't show it, and continued staring at the building in front of them.

"The past few times I've been in the village over the years I haven't seen you. How have you been?"

Glancing at him for a moment, Naruto shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I'm getting ready to go on a mission with my team. I'll be in Wind Country, the Sand Village specifically. The Kazekage needs our help."

Minato whistled. "Wow, the Kazekage requested you personally?"

"Not really." Naruto shook his head negatively. "But the Kazekage and I are good friends, so Tsunade-baachan knew to give me the mission anyway. If she didn't, I would have been complaining."

"You could get away with that?"

"Kind of. I can do lots of things that others might only dream of, but it it wasn't for my help, Tsunade-baachan probably wouldn't be Hokage right now. As a trade off, I also get punched through the wall more than anyone else."

Minato couldn't help but wince, which Naruto saw and laughed outright at the expression.

"Hey, Naruto. Sorry that took longer than I expected. We can get going now."

Turning to look at the new voice, Minato stopped and blinked the moment he noticed the new arrival. The girl had vibrant pink hair and light green eyes, a shade or two brighter than his own girlfriend's. She was wearing a red vest, black tights, and a light pink skirt that had slits along the sides to allow for the full range of movement.

"No problem Sakura-chan. I was just talking to my friend, Arashi-san."

So this was Sakura-chan? Minato remembered Naruto mentioning how he would keep a smile reserved for this girl, and while he knew Naruto would end up with her eventually, it would be best to be as casual as possible so that he didn't do anything on his own to accidentally mess things up for them. He would never forgive himself.

Sakura had since focused her full attention on the newcomer, giving him a bow. "I'm Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade-sama. Nice to meet you."

The Hokage's apprentice? There was definitely more to this girl than met the eye, that was for sure. She was definitely attractive from first glance, though Kushina was prettier... though Minato figured he was probably biased in that regard.

"I'm Kazama Arashi. It's nice to meet you as well. I've heard good things about you. Especially from Naruto."

Sakura looked surprised at first, but then almost looked a little nervous as she glanced towards Naruto. "Oh really? Well... that's good to know."

Naruto, meanwhile, was looking away with a blush on his face, laughing lightly as he scratched the back of his head. Apparently they weren't all that close yet, so Minato decided to shut his mouth about that topic before he caused problems.

"So what brings you here, Arashi-san? I've never seen you talking to Naruto before." It may have been possible that the girl's voice sounded a bit wary, which Minato couldn't blame her for being cautious around him.

"Ah, well, I met Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen many years ago, and we talked there briefly. I said that I really liked his name, and we became friends. Other than today I've only been able to chat with Naruto one other time, I had just arrived from behind the Hokage Mountain and I encountered Naruto up there. I haven't seen Naruto since then, even today it was totally by chance."

Sakura seemed to accept that, nodding, while Naruto was looking at him with a small smile.

"I'm glad I got to meet you again today Naruto. Maybe you'll be here the next time I'm passing through Konoha to report in as well." Minato reached over, quickly ruffling Naruto's hair and chuckling. Naruto simply looked at the man with wide eyes, as if no one had ever done that to him before, then frowned a little as he tried to fix his perpetually messy hairdo.

"Aww, you're leaving already? You could at least see us off at the gate." Naruto's voice seemed hopeful, even though he looked agitated about his hair, and Minato took a moment to think it over. It couldn't really do any harm, though he wasn't sure why exactly Naruto wanted him to follow. Pessimism started encroaching on his mind, thinking that perhaps Naruto didn't have many friends.

"Sure, why not? I don't have anything else to do before I report in."

"Well, Tsunade-sama might be at the gate, so you can just report in to her there. She mentioned something about having last minute advice for us before we head to Suna."

Minato immediately paled, though he hoped his disguise hid it. Someone of Tsunade's caliber would likely be able to see through his illusion immediately. He only hoped that she would err on the side of caution and not out him immediately. If she did... there would be a LOT of explaining to do in a short amount of time. Taking a glance at his son, who was chatting animatedly with Sakura as they were walking, he realized how much of a chance he was taking by visiting the boy like this.

After a few more minutes of casual walking, they were approaching the gate. Minato gulped, Tsunade was there, as was a much more mature looking Shizune. Jiraiya was present as well... he was someone that Minato could deal with if there was an issue, since the Jiraiya and Sarutobi of his time were the only ones who knew what he was doing. However, Kakashi was present too, and while Kakashi was smart enough to not stick his nose in matters where it didn't belong, he didn't know how the man would react if he thought Naruto was in danger in any way.

Naruto was waving animatedly towards the gate and jogged up to the group, while Sakura watched him run off but continued to walk at a casual pace alongside Minato. The disguised blond watched as Naruto talked rapidly to the group, and it was easy to see Jiraiya and Tsunade rolling their eyes as Shizune looked on with an affectionate smile. Naruto started gesticulating wildly, and as he approached he could interpret words about 'helping Gaara' and 'mission'. As he and Sakura approached, Minato decided to hang back a bit, while Sakura moved up beyond the gate and started adjusting the straps on her packs.

Turning away from Sakura, he noticed that Naruto's voice had quieted down, and he was talking quietly with Jiraiya. Tsunade, however, now had her attention focused on him, and he tried to keep himself from fidgeting. He gave her a small nod, trying to act inconspicuous.

"I don't recognize you, and I thought I knew who all my shinobi are."

Minato was going to answer and try to divert her attention, but Naruto's booming voice went right over his. "That's my friend, Kazama Arashi-san! I met him a long time ago! He goes out on missions a lot, so he's not in Konoha much."

At the mention of his name, Tsunade's eyes narrowed dangerously, and both Jiraiya and Kakashi stiffened visibly. Tsunade may have known of his alter-ego in passing, but Jiraiya was his sensei and probably knew more about him than even the Sandaime or Kushina. Kakashi, likewise, knew of his alter-ego very well. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kakashi close his book and place it in one of his pouches, while Jiraiya was staring at him intently, probably waiting for some kind of answer.

"Well, what Naruto said is true, I go on missions a lot. Since I'm hardly ever in Konoha, I let an old friend of mine use my name in case he ever needed an alter-ego who actually was a real person, but I never heard of him using it. I've already checked-in at the booth, Sandaime-sama gave me open mission status a long time ago."

Jiraiya and Kakashi both visibly relaxed, probably willing to accept his excuse, but Tsunade was still looking at him cautiously. The Sandaime may have made mention of something in his notes about him and his time traveling, but he couldn't have anticipated this, could he? He felt himself relax when Tsunade nodded at him, accepting his excuse.

"Understood. You can head back to my office to report in with me when we're done here."

Nodding his acceptance of her request, he turned to watch Naruto who was bouncing around with excitement once more. At this point he was nearly dragging Kakashi along, who was trying to appease him and say they were going.

"Naruto, Sakura... take care!"

Minato waved his hand at them, and the two teens turned to look at him in surprise. Sakura seemed chagrined, but gave him a timid smile and waved back, while Naruto eagerly waved his hand over his head and laughed.

As soon as they were out of sight, both Tsunade and Jiraiya turned to him at the same time. Nodding at them both, knowing what they wanted, he turned and headed back towards the Hokage's office. They both must have known something was up, as no one said a single word during the entire trip there.

* * *

"Well, now that we're all settled in, I guess it's fine for you to go ahead and report in. My old sensei's notes mentioned that someone was placed on open status because of the nature of their mission, but he left the person's name unstated, as well as the exact nature of that mission. That includes rank, duration, and pay."

Minato sighed inwardly, mostly out of relief. At least they'd be willing to listen to him, instead of jumping on him the moment he dropped the disguise. "My mission has no real defined status. I'm surprised that Sandaime-sama even classified it as a mission in any way. He alone knew what I was doing... not even his advisers knew."

Jiraiya was obviously listening in, but pretending not to as he scribbled away in a notebook. Shizune had remained outside on Tsunade's order, and as for the Hokage herself... she was watching him very intently.

"I see. I would assume, then, that the nature of your mission is a very important one. That is probably the reason why you've been walking around under disguise this entire time, and still continue to do so?"

Jiraiya stopped scribbling, and was now looking at him curiously. He hesitated in response, and Tsunade must have noticed this, as she adopted a smirk that Minato could only possibly classify as smug.

"I wear a genjutsu on myself at all times, so don't think that I wouldn't notice yours right away. I can't see behind it, but I must admit, you've aroused my interest as to why you are hiding. It must be important."

"Let's just say that if my disguise drops, there will be a lot of people with a lot of questions. Unfortunately, most questions will be of the nature that I cannot answer. Not because I wouldn't want to, but because of what it would mean if I did."

Tsunade leaned forward. "Does this mean you can't say what it is you're doing, even though my sensei has passed on?" Jiraiya put his notebook away, and was now giving the two of them his rapt attention.

Minato hesitated for the briefest of moments, looking around the room. "Does this room still have the seals that the Yondaime installed? Including the silencing ones?" Minato himself hadn't installed them yet in his time, but according to one of his conversations with the future Sandaime, he had installed quite a few before his death.

Tsunade blinked, then quickly rose to her feet. "Just how much do you know?! Only the Hokages are supposed to know about that!"

Looking between the other two in the room besides himself, Minato held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Jiraiya was smirking, something nagged in the back of his mind that Jiraiya already knew what was going on, but enjoyed watching Tsunade go through the loops.

"I promise you'll understand Tsunade-sama... just... please, tell me, are the seals still intact? Because once I drop this disguise I'll have to leave the room before I can put it back up again, so you need to close this area off from any surprise visits."

Before another word was spoken, Jiraiya closed the window behind him with a soft clicking noise. Tsunade turned to him - obviously surprised - but he simply nodded with a small smile, then quickly moved to close another one that was open. Meanwhile, Minato moved and made sure the door was securely locked. As soon as he was done, he moved back into the middle of the room, looked at them both once more, then dropped his Kazama disguise.

The first thing he heard was Jiraiya's booming laughter, and he saw Tsunade fall back into her chair with a look of complete shock. Minato offered a cheeky smile and wave, causing Jiraiya to laugh harder, while Tsunade finally got over her shock and gave him a fierce scowl, pointing at him angrily.

"You! You have a lot of explaining to do, Minato! Especially with regards to your son! He's been living alone without parents for-"

"I know, Tsunade-sama... believe me, do I ever know." Minato had his hands up again, trying to placate her so he could get a word in edgewise. Jiraiya had quieted down as well, and had a hand resting on Tsunade's shoulder. The woman looked absolutely livid, though he wasn't sure if it was with him or Jiraiya, so he knew that the next words he spoke would have to be strong ones. He still had to be careful about revealing too much, though, so this was going to be tricky.

"Before you get any big ideas, I'm officially dead. I am me, but at the same time, I'm not really here."

Her anger was clearly fading, but the confusion that was taking over her expression could be just as dangerous. Before he could say anything, however, Jiraiya answered for him.

"What he means, Tsunade-hime, is that the Minato we knew who stopped the Kyuubi is still dead. Well, technically dead. The Minato we see now is traveling through time."

Both Tsunade and Minato looked at Jiraiya, Tsunade with surprise, and Minato with confusion. Technically dead? Before he could ask, Tsunade started raging on Jiraiya, and it was his turn to get defensive.

"What do you mean, time traveling! I remember you telling me about that time you went into the past, but if that's true, he's in the future and that's potentially more dangerous! I bet this was another one of your past hair-brained ideas!" She turned away from him in a huff, crossing her arms, causing Jiraiya to chuckle a little.

"No it isn't, actually. Minato stumbled upon it completely by accident. I remember being very proud as his sensei. But I also told him to be careful, which I think he's done an admirable job being cautious. Though he could have changed things anyway, but none of us would ever know."

Tsunade looked completely aghast, but Minato shook his head. "I haven't changed a thing. I've only wanted to watch snapshots of my son growing up, because I won't get to be there. Kushina isn't around either, which had me distressed, but she does reappear eventually."

The two members of the Sannin both looked depressed and then shocked at the mention of Kushina. They both knew how much he and Kushina were in love, and everyone present knew how much of a wonderful mother Kushina would have been to Naruto.

"Kushina is alive? But how, where is she?!"

Minato gave them a sad smile, and shook his head. "You don't know how much it pains me, but I can't change anything. If I could have, I would have long before now. For the moment, the knowledge that she is alright and will continue to be is enough for me. If I remember correctly, it won't be long from now before she makes her appearance."

"So you've been even further into the future?"

Minato smiled and nodded at his old sensei. "Yes. I met the Kyuudaime Hokage. She was a very nice person, and let me examine some books from her personal library. History books are very interesting when you're visiting the future."

Tsunade looked amazed. "Kyuu... Kyuudaime!? Wow... it's nice to know that Konoha will be around that long... and of course I'm curious, but you can't tell me, can you? But you said it was a she..."

Minato frowned. "I want to tell you everything, but I can't. If I could have avoided it, I wouldn't even be here now, but Naruto dragged me along, and I couldn't say no to him. Yes, the Kyuudaime was female, but I cannot say anything more. I'm sorry.

Sighing, Tsunade waved it off. "No... I understand, unfortunately. I'd probably be doing the same thing, if I were in your shoes."

Silence fell over the trio for a moment, before Minato remembered something that his sensei said something when he first dropped his disguise.

"Jiraiya-sensei, what did you mean when you said I was 'technically dead'?"

Jiraiya looked at Minato in surprise, but then looked up at the ceiling and rubbed at his chin. "It was a long time ago now, but I don't know if you're at the point where you've talked to me about it yet. You explained to me about a new seal that you developed, one that would let you seal the Kyuubi without having to call on the Shinigami for more than appearance's sake. You asked me, when the time was right and you looked dead, to move your body from the burial site to a more secure location. Then you told me Naruto would know what to do when the time was right, and apologized for not being able to tell me more."

It didn't take long through Jiraiya's explanation for a smile to start growing on Minato's face. When Jiraiya finished talking, both he and Tsunade were looking at the blond male with curious gazes.

"Well, I haven't talked to you yet. But with this conversation now, I know what I'm going to do, and I know that what I've been planning is going to succeed. I read about being alive again in the future, and this confirms that my plan works."

Jiraiya looked surprised, yet satisfied, while Tsunade was appearing to be suffering from conflicting emotions. Jiraiya picked up on it when he looked at her. "What's wrong, Tsunade?"

Shaking her head, she sighed. "I'd like to see the brat be happy _now_, but if Kushina appears soon... I guess this moment is rather bittersweet, isn't it?"

"I guess you can say that. Oh, and when Kushina does appear, I need you both to act like you had no idea, and are surprised to see her. I don't know the exact circumstances of her return, I only know a vague time frame. It will be within the next year."

Jiraiya nodded but was frowning, accepting what he was saying, but Tsunade was getting angry again. "Why do I need to be surprised?! Are you meaning to tell me that I can't tell her about you, and how you are dead, but still alive?!"

Minato nodded, causing a scowl to appear on the Hokage's face. "That's exactly what I mean. I don't like it any more than you do, and I still have to face Kushina every day in my time without telling her what's going on. How miserable do you think I feel? But I know I can't, because if I do, it may or may not ruin my son's life in some way. I won't take that risk. Preparing for eventualities is much safer than changing things and throwing everything into chaos."

Tsunade blinked at him. "It sounds like you're trying to play god."

Snorting, Minato looked at the Hokage with no small amount of incredulity. "Playing god? If I did that, I'd fix everything in one shot and make sure that the Kyuubi never even appears. A god could do that, yes. But I can't. I may not be able to give my son his family right now, but I swear on everything I hold precious that he'll know that happiness someday!"

Tsunade rubbed her forehead as Jiraiya looked at Minato with no small amount of pity. That look quickly changed to one of surprise as he pointed towards one of Minato's hands.

"You're fading?"

Lifting his arm and looking at his hand, he smirked as his arms gradually started fading as well. "I can't believe it's been two hours already. I'll be back, but I don't know when. It's not easy to specify when exactly it is that I'll arrive. A small adjustment can displace me months from now. Remember what I said about keeping this quiet. Please."

If Tsunade or Jiraiya were going to say anything else, they couldn't get it in. The disappearance effect accelerated, and with a small pop Minato disappeared from their sight. Jiraiya leaned back from where he was sitting, musing about Minato's words, while Tsunade swiftly opened a drawer to her desk. Cursing silently, she grabbed a sake bottle and started drinking from it directly.

Jiraiya couldn't help himself and burst into laughter.

* * *

A:N - If anyone can pick up on the very small Bakemonogatari reference, you get a cookie.

I know this took a loooooong time to update. I kinda figured that might happen. Sorry. Only a few chapters left to go!

I probably don't need to explain, but right now is just when Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto head off to Suna to get the Kazekage back from the clutches of Akatsuki. I just slightly modified the scene.


End file.
